In 2009, a bizarre disappearance captured the public imagination. The Jamison family of Eufaula, Oklahoma vanished one October afternoon while scouting a plot of land they were prepared to purchase. Father Bobby, mother Sherilynn, and their child Madyson were classified as missing for some four years before their remains were discovered in the wilderness.
The case is extremely unusual and has fascinated investigators for over a decade. A short week after the family vanished, their vehicle was discovered in the wilderness near Red Oak, Oklahoma. Within, their cell phones, their (badly malnourished) dog, and some $32,000 in cash were found.
The case only gets stranger from there.
The Jamison family lived in a well-populated area of Oklahoma, but were planning to move “off the grid”. They were scouting a plot of land in Red Oak that they planned to move to, in order to live in a shipping container.
The reasoning became clear early in the investigation. Bobby’s father, Bob Dean Jamison, had threatened to kill Bobby and his family on multiple occasions. This quickly became a leading theory in the disappearance.
However, police have discounted the theory that Bob Dean was involved in the disappearance. Those close to the Jamisons have confirmed that they had been dabbling in occult research in the months before their disappearance. Bobby had asked his pastor about “special bullets” that could harm spirits.
Sherilynn had allegedly purchased a “witch bible” as a joke, according to family friends. Bobby had admitted to the pastor that he was reading a “satanic bible,” suggesting, perhaps, that the Jamison’s interest in the occult was more than passing.
The search for the family following the discovery of their vehicle was exhaustive. Search parties scoured the wilderness in a five-mile radius around the truck. However, they found nothing. Bizarrely, some four years later, in 2013, their skeletal remains were discovered by chance when a group of hikers stumbled upon them. They were only three miles from the vehicle.
This has led to a large number of theories about what happened to the family. Some have proposed cult activity could be attributed to their disappearance. Others believe the family may have gotten lost in the woods and died due to exposure. Others still have wondered if the family was killed in a murder-suicide by either Bobby or Sherilynn.
Despite the mountain of physical evidence in the case, it remains unsolved. Investigators may never discover what really happened to the Jamison family in the backwoods of Oklahoma.
