On October 8th, 2009, the Jamison family, consisting of dad, Bobby, mom, Sherilynn, and 6-year-old Madyson, left their home in Eufaula, Oklahoma to drive to a nearby mountain area to check out a parcel of land that they were considering purchasing. Eight days later, their truck was found on a dirt road in the mountain area, abandoned, with the family dog locked inside. What happened to the family and where were they now? It would be another four years before investigators were able to answer just ONE of those questions. They found the Jamisons, but still had no idea what happened to them in October of 2009.
Who were the Jamisons?
The Jamison family was made up of father, Bobby, mother, Sherilynn, and daughter, Madyson. Madyson had a dog, Maisie, that she loved very much. Bobby Dale Jamison was born on August 4,1965 to Bob Dean and Starlet Jamison. Sherilynn Leighann Jamison was born on November 5, 1968 to Connie Kokotan. Bobby and Sherilynn met in the summer of 2002, and Sherilynn knew he was the guy for her. Her best friend, Niki Shenold, said that Sherilynn decided right then and there that they were meant to be together. Niki said that Bobby was a gentleman and a good person, who really didn’t want to do anything wrong. Sherilynn was described as someone who stood up for what she believed in. If she believed in something, she believed in it with her whole heart. She used to tell Niki that everybody should stand for something.
Two years after meeting, Bobby and Sherilynn married in July of 2004. The year before that, on August 1, 2003, Sherilynn gave birth to Madyson Stormy Star Jamison. Bobby and Sherilynn were elated to have the little girl in their life. Their family said that Madyson was the most important thing in the couple’s lives. They did everything they could for her. The family lived on a lake property in Eufaula, Oklahoma. Bobby’s mother, Starlet, said that the family seemed happy. Madyson was a happy girl and Starlet called her her best friend.
The Disappearance
On October 8th, 2009, the Jamisons left their home around 10AM to drive the 30 miles to the Sans Bois Mountains in Red Oak, Oklahoma. 44-year-old Bobby and 40-year-old Sherilynn had been thinking of buying a plot of land in a rural area. They wanted to get away from people and live more remotely. Bobby had found a 40 acre plot of land in the mountains online that they hoped to build a home on in the future. For the time being, their plan was to live on the rural land in a large shipping container that was currently in the front yard of their home in Eufaula. The family of three and their dog, Maisie, traveled in their truck to the Sans Bois Mountains. The last confirmed sighting of the family was by a man who lived in the area on the 8th.
Fast forward eight days. On October 16th, several hunters on four-wheelers were cruising around the San Bois Mountain area. They found a locked truck on a dirt road near the top of one of the mountains. Inside the vehicle, they saw a dog, who was alive, but obviously malnourished. The dog appeared to have been eating her own feces to survive. The hunters contacted the Latimer County Sheriff’s Office, who dispatched officers to a report of an abandoned vehicle. The deputies broke the glass window of the vehicle and got the dog out. **THE DOG WAS FINE AND RETURNED TO BOBBY’S MOTHER** They began to look through the cluttered cab of the truck, looking for anything that might indicate who the truck belonged to. Oddly enough, there were still cell phones, wallets, a purse, and coats still inside the car.
The sheriff’s office assumed that the owners of the truck were likely lost in the nearby woods, based on the fact that their belongings were still in their vehicle. The five or six deputies who were on scene began searching the immediate area, but unfortunately they couldn’t go too far, as the terrain was extremely rugged and made the search difficult.
The sheriff’s office was able to find that the truck was registered to Bobby Jamison. They contacted the Jamisons’ family and friends who said that they hadn’t heard from the family in over a week. Deputies didn’t understand why no one had reported them missing, especially with there being a six-year-old child involved. Friends and family said that the Jamisons were a very private family and it wasn’t unusual for them to leave the home without letting anyone know. Not hearing from them for 8-9 days wasn’t unusual. People who lived and worked nearby had noticed the truck parked on the dirt road, but just assumed it belonged to a work crew. There were lots of oil wells in the area and crews were often working on them.
With no obvious sign of the family nearby, police used the GPS on Bobby and Sherilynn’s cell phones to reconstruct their last movements. The GPS showed that they didn’t spend most of their time parked in that spot. It led police up a nearby hill where they found footprints that they felt confident linking to a small child, likely Madyson. They continued to follow the footprints and GPS, which led them up to a bluff area. Bobby’s cell phone’s most recent photo was of Madyson, appearing to be in that exact spot on the bluff. In the photo, Madyson has a strange expression on her face and looks like she’s crossing her arms. Later, some speculated that this photo was concerning, believing that Madyson was scared or upset. Others believe that the photo was just a photo of a kid who didn’t want their picture taken or was pitching a fit. After the photo was taken, GPS led police to believe that the family returned to their truck and began to leave the area.
While the search continued, other deputies combed through the family truck. There was quite a bit of trash and clutter inside. One deputy reached under the driver’s seat to find a hidden bank bag containing $32,000 in cold, hard cash. With no sign of the family and the significant amount of cash found, deputies began considering that they might be dealing with foul play. They taped off the area as a crime scene and began theorizing about why the family would’ve been traveling with so much cash. Their initial thought? Drugs. Latimer County Sheriff Israel Beauchamp (THIS GUY IS SO HUNKY) said that their area was inundated with methamphetamine use. Could the Jamisons have been involved in the local drug trade? There were no signs of drugs or paraphernalia in the truck, but it was still at the top of their list of theories.
Even more concerning than the money that was found, was what WASN’T in the truck. According to Sherilynn’s friends and family, she had a pistol that she carried with her, almost always keeping it with her when they were in the vehicle. It was nowhere to be found in that truck.
On October 17th, less than 24 hours after the hunters had found the Jamison’s truck, a large search was conducted, with several fire departments, EMS, forestry services, local volunteers, and search dogs. People were canvassing the area on foot, four-wheelers, and horseback. There were helicopters in the air, looking for any sign of the family. Everything was uphill and the conditions of the land made it incredibly tough to search. The search was dangerous because not everyone knew the woods, but even the ones who did, still had difficulty navigating the hazardous area. The scent dogs were interested in a few different areas, including a nearby water tank that was full of water. The tank was drained, but nothing was found. Despite the enormous search efforts, nobody was able to find any sign of the Jamisons.
One thing that greatly concerned Starlet, Bobby’s mother, was that Maisie the dog had been left in the locked vehicle. She said that Maisie was Madyson’s little buddy and that she would’ve hollered if her mom and dad tried to leave her dog in the car. Police quickly ruled out mechanical issues with the truck; there were no signs of vehicle damage, the truck ran just fine, and there was plenty of gas in the tank. There were no signs of a struggle near the truck, no blood or broken glass. So why did this family of three seem to just disappear into thin air?
Inside of Sherilynn’s belongings inside the truck, police found an 11 page letter that was written to Bobby from Sherilynn. This letter was full of hate. She lashed out against her husband, expressing discontent with him and their marriage. She accused him of being a loaner and not needing the family. Sherilynn’s friends wondered if this letter had been the kind of letter that one might write to get their feelings out, without actually giving the letter to the intended person. Regardless, police questioned the Jamisons’ loved ones about the state of Bobby and Sherilynn’s marriage. They found that the past few months had held serious stress for the family. Bobby and Sherilynn had even spoken about divorce. It seemed as though the two had decided that a fresh start might be the way to help their relationship. This is what prompted Bobby’s search for rural land for sale.
The land in Red Oak was most definitely remote. It was near an abandoned oil well and the area was full of forests, cliffs, and ravines. This was going to be their next step in building a new, simpler life. The Jamisons were excited to join a small community that took pride in their independence and self-sufficiency. Most people up in the mountain area lived with the bare minimum, a more rustic way of life. Starlet said her son and his family wanted to get away from the mainstream and from crowds, and enjoy life on their own without having to answer to anyone.
Not Your Average Family
Police searched the Jamison home, but found no signs of drugs or paraphernalia. They learned that Bobby and Sherilynn had pulled Madyson out of school recently with the plan of homeschooling her. Sherilynn had also recently dyed Madyson’s hair, which people found odd, given her age. (It looked like she dyed it blonde or bleached it) Sherilynn had a son from a previous marriage, Colton, who had no idea where his mother and the rest of the family might have gone. He had been living with her up until about 2 weeks prior, when he went to live with his dad in another state. Colton said that his mother had never mentioned their plans to move to the Red Oak area.
Also not found in the house? Sherilynn’s pistol. Nobody had been able to locate the missing gun. Investigators began to wonder if a possible murder-suicide could’ve taken place. With the discovery of Sherilynn’s letter to Bobby and the newfound information about the stress that the family was facing, police wondered if one of the parents had murdered their spouse and Madyson, before ending their own life. If that was the case though, where were the bodies? It would’ve been difficult to murder two people, then turn the gun on themselves, but making sure that all three bodies were extremely hidden. It just didn’t seem to fit.
As investigators searched further into the Jamison’s past, they learned that there were several stressors that were causing rising tensions in the household. In 2003, Bobby was in a serious car accident, where he was struck by one car on the driver’s side of his vehicle and struck by another car on the passengers’ side. He suffered chronic back pain and couldn’t work. Prescribed pain medication wasn’t helping very much and some days, it was very difficult for him to get out of bed and do things around the house. He started to become depressed and it changed his mood.
Investigators were presented with a new lead, informing them that in July of that year, just three months before their disappearance, the Jamisons took in a boarder. In exchange for them providing him a place to live, the boarder would help Bobby with manual labor and working on the residence. Bobby thought that having a second set of hands around would help since he was in so much pain. It wasn’t long before the boarder began to make both Sherilynn and Madyson uncomfortable, especially when Bobby wasn’t there. One day, Bobby left to run an errand and the boarder sat down on the couch, very close to Sherilynn and put his face near hers. He told her that he was a white supremacist and that he didn’t like how she kept talking about how she had Native American blood in her. He said that he thought anyone who wasn’t pure white should die. Sherilynn wasn’t here for his shit. She grabbed Madyson and went in the back to find Bobby’s gun. She pointed the gun at the boarder and told him to get off of their property and not to come back. She even fired several rounds at his feet before he took off. Sherilynn’s friends said that despite how frightened she was, Sherilynn felt terrible for having to do that.
Finding this boarder became a priority to investigators. The FBI was able to identify him from a discarded prescription bottle in the Jamison’s truck, but locating him was a different story. Eventually the US Marshals were assigned to him and located the boarder living in Wilburton, Oklahoma. The FBI interviewed him, but he had an alibi. The FBI no longer considered him a suspect.
With no solid leads and still no evidence as to where the Jamisons were, investigators continued to learn everything they could about the family. Friends said that Bobby and Sherilynn had strong interests in spirituality. Some of her beliefs were even described as strange and over the top. They both attended prayer meetings in the weeks leading up to their disappearances. The preacher at the church said that they’d come in to see him because they’d been seeing spirits in their home. Sherilynn said that angels were coming into their home disguised as children and interacting with Madyson. She believed that Madyson was talking to people who’d died. She had a “friend” named Emily, that her grandmother believed was just an imaginary friend, but Sherilynn believed was a spirit. The preacher also said that Bobby told him he’d seen spirits on top of their home. He’d asked the preacher if there was a special bullet to buy to kill the spirits. When Bobby’s mom was told about this later, she said it did not sound at all like something her son would’ve said.
Sherilynn had spray painted things all around the neighborhood, on signs and abandoned buildings, including the storage container in their front yard. She recently had a cat that had died and she believed it was poisoned. One of the phrases she spray painted on the storage container was “witches don’t like their cats being killed”. She often told neighbors that she was a witch. When passerbys in the neighborhood stared at her, she’d yell at them to come inside for some witch’s brew. She told her best friend that if you had problems with someone, make them think you’re crazy and they’ll leave you alone.
Another Clue
In late October, investigators discovered that the Jamison house had surveillance cameras on the outside. They were able to access the recordings, specifically the ones from the morning that the family left their home for the mountains. Both of the cameras pointed to the driveway. It showed the three of them packing the truck. Those who’ve watched the video describe their movements as being in a “trance-like” state. They don’t appear to interact or speak with one another throughout. It looked like the three of them walked in and out of the home more than 20 times each.
Bobby’s mother said that she’d had the cameras put up in her son’s yard. Both she and Bobby had been threatened by her ex-husband (Bobby’s father) multiple times, so she had them installed at her house and Bobby’s for safety.
Still concerned with Sherilynn’s mental state on the day of the disappearance, as well as the time leading up to it, police spoke with her doctor. The doctor told them that she suffered from bipolar disorder and she didn’t always take her medication as prescribed. Her family said that she was like two different people. If she was taking her medication, she was in a good mood and happy, but if she wasn’t taking her medication, she was angry, hateful, and belittled herself. Police believed this could’ve explained the letter they found that she’d written to Bobby. Though this might’ve explained Sherilynn’s journaling and letter, investigators did not believe that her struggles with her mental health had anything to do with the family’s disappearance.
So far, though investigators had many theories as to what could have happened to the Jamison family, there was really no evidence to back anything up. They felt confident that while the family was heading back down the mountain, someone came up that one way road, causing the family to stop. What happened next was still a mystery. By November 1st, the case seemed to have gone cold. It was less than a month since the family’s truck was found, but without any more clues, investigators were stumped.
The Bodies
On November 16th, 2013, just over four years after the Jamison’s truck was found on the mountain, a man who was out “scouting for deer” found a human skull in a pile of fallen leaves. Two more were nearby. This was 2.7 miles away from where the Jamison’s truck had been discovered. The man called the police, who responded quickly with a full investigation team. Among the leaves were the three skulls, bones and bone fragments, and pieces of clothing. Investigators and friends and family of the Jamisons felt confident that the remains were that of Bobby, Sherilynn, and Madyson, but because the remains were so badly decomposed, it took 8 months for forensic scientists, using DNA and dental records, to confirm their suspicions. They had indeed discovered the remains of the missing Jamison family.
The bodies were found in a remote part of the mountain called Smokestack Hollow. This was an area that was rarely traveled and the bodies were located on a very steep incline. This could have explained why the bodies weren’t found during initial searches, if they had already been there. Reports said that the almost 3 mile distance between the truck and the bodies was as the crow flies. The route to walk from their truck to Smokestack Hollow was winding and difficult, and ultimately was abou 7 miles away. This would’ve been a long walk for a six year old and Bobby, with his chronic back pain. Reports also said that the remains were all face down and arranged in a row, however with how long the remains had been exposed to the elements and animals, it was difficult to tell what position they’d been in when they died. The medical examiner was unable to determine causes of death for the family, however noted that there was a small hole in the back of Bobby’s head, that COULD have been from a bullet OR from animal activity.
Well…
With the family’s remains having been located, everyone thought they’d be able to figure out what happened to the Jamisons on the day that they disappeared. Unfortunately, it only gave them more unanswered questions. It seemed as though the only thing investigators really had were theories.
The first theory was of a murder suicide. Considering the difficulties that Sherilynn and Bobby were having in their marriage, along with Bobby’s chronic pain and Sherilynn’s continued difficulty with her mental health, it was possible that either of them murdered Madyson and their spouse, then ended their own life. However, if this was the case, where was the murder weapon? If Sherilynn’s gun had been used, it seemed as though the gun would likely be nearby and there’d be obvious evidence of a gunshot wound. Given how far they were found off of the road, it would’ve been quite a hurdle to have a man with a chronic back injury and a child walk that far. Sherilynn’s mother even said that her daughter and Bobby were good parents, despite their issues at home, and that they would’ve never let anything happen to Madyson, unless it was out of their control.
The second theory was that Bobby’s father was behind their deaths. Early in 2009, Bobby had filed a restraining order against his father. 67-year-old Bob Dean Jamison had threaded to kill Bobby and his family multiple times. In the submission for the restraining order, Bobby wrote that his father hit him with his vehicle and described him as a “very dangerous man who thinks he is above the law.” He also added that his father had ties to gangs, and meth. He also told the judge how fearful he and his family were of his father. The judge did not grant him the protective order. Police determined that he had a solid alibi and dismissed this as being a plausible theory. Bob Dead died two months after his son and his family disappeared.
Another theory believed by the public was that the family fell victim to Nazis or white supremacists. In 2010, after the ‘Disappeared’ episode on the Jamison family aired, Sherilynn’s good friend, Niki Shenold, said that she received a very strange call. The caller, a woman, said that she used to belong to a white supremacy group and had seen a book of names that the group had a problem with and that they intended to “take care of”. The caller said she tried to memorize names from the book to later go home and look them up. Some of them came back as missing people, including the Jamisons. This caller also reportedly told Niki about a unique insignia that Bobby had on his wedding ring. She said that she’d heard conversations between the men in this group where they were clearly talking about Sherilynn, Bobby, and Madyson and how they’d dealt with them. Lastly, the caller said that one of the men reported having sexual thoughts about Madyson. This led Niki to believe that perhaps the target in the family may have been the little girl. This theory connected back to the boarder that the Jamisons once had, who Sherilynn ran out of of the house with a gun when he expressed his favorable opinions regarding white supremacy.
A widely believed explanation as to what led to the Jamison’s death was that they may have gotten themselves in trouble with drugs. Meth was extremely popular in the area of Oklahoma where the family lived. This could explain the large amount of cash that the family was carrying. To this day, no one is quite sure where the money came from and considering that both Bobby and Sherilynn were struggling financially, it just doesn’t make sense. However, if this was the case, why would the killers have left the money? It seems likely that they would’ve found it if they searched the truck. Some people thought that perhaps the Jamisons stumbled upon a meth lab or a drug transaction that they weren’t supposed to see.
There are several other theories that the public believes might have led to the death of the Jamison family. Cults, witchcraft, or a pedophilia-motivated murder. Despite there being pieces of each theory that fit with what’s been found and what’s known, NONE of the pieces fit with everything. There’s always something to contradict each one. Because of this, the mysterious deaths of Bobby, Sherilynn, and Madyson have never been solved.
It remains unknown if they met with foul play or their deaths were caused by someone in the family. Their causes of death are listed as undetermined and Sherilynn’s pistol has never been located. Many investigators strongly believe that the family met with foul play. Prior to the discovery of their bodies, many armchair detectives believed that the family had been placed in the witness protection program, possibly after working with police to bust drug dealers. Unfortunately, this clearly wasn’t the case. If you have any information on the deaths of the Jamison family, please contact the Latimer Police Department at (918) 465-2161.
sources for this episode
The strange disappearance and deaths of the Jamison Family in the …
The Disappearance of the Jamison Family – The Casual Criminalist
The Disturbing Mystery of the Jamison Family – BuzzFeed Unsolved …
CASE #6: THE JAMISON FAMILY – Mystery Unsolved
The Jamison Family Disappearance and Deaths – Medium
Bobby, Sherilyn and Madyson Jamison family disappearance
