When Jamie found out Rebecca was pregnant, he gave her a ring. He was happy. She already had 2 small children, a boy and girl, who adored him and called him Daddy. Instant family. When she was 5 mths. along, she decided she wanted to move to Nevada to be close to her dad whom she hadn't seen since he left them when she was 2. Jamie refused to move. He didn't want to leave his family and the town he grew up in for what amounted to a " wild goose chase". She got furious and cut off all contact with Jamie. Two weeks later, she and her mom and the kids were gone. We had no contact from her until 2 months after Ashley's birth. Then, the phone calls and letters started coming. She wanted to come back. We encouraged her to. However, she also wanted Jamie back and he wasn't interested in her, just Ashley. He tried to keep it friendly in the hope of being allowed visitation if she did move back.

In Aug. 1997, they moved back to SC. She still called Jamie but she wouldn't tell him where she was. Jamie had a new woman in his life and that made her furious all over again. She kept promising to bring Ashley to see him, but never did. She called him in Oct. to tell him she had gotten married. She continued to call up until a few weeks before Ashley died. Her brother, who was still in Nevada, was the one who called about her death. When Jamie finally talked to her that evening, he was appalled at how unconcerned she was. After that, he had no more contact with her until shortly before his death.

The rest of this story will continue after the trial of Jamie's accused murderers. To be continued later...

Jamie died a little after midnight on May 12th 1998, 2 days after Mother's Day. I had spent most of that Sunday with my "boys". My husband is a truck driver and he was on a trip. Monday evening Jamie called to chat and to ask me to check on his cat, Spooky, on Thurs. since he would be gone all day and wouldn't be back until late. I told him I would but that he would need to drop his keys off Wed. night. He said he would and then mentioned something funny that happened on Mother's Day and we said good-bye after a good laugh. That was the last time I talked to him. Three hours later he was dead.

On Wed. morning May 13, around 9 am, his boss called me. He said Jamie hadn't shown up for work Tues. or that morning. He said he had been trying to get Jamie on the phone but that his line was busy. He said it wasn't like Jamie not to show up for work or not call in. I told him I would go over and check on him. My heart had turned to ice and I started shaking. I instinctively knew something was terribly wrong. Jamie lived down the road about a mile. I pass his house every day. Since he worked odd hours, I never thought anything about whether his truck was there or not and since we weren't in the habit of talking to or seeing each other everyday, I didn't think anything of not having heard from him since Monday night.

When I got to his house, I immediately saw that some of the tires on his truck were flat. I went to his back door and banged on it and yelled for him. No answer. Front door, the same, no answer. By this time I was in a total panic. I ran to all of his windows trying to see in and find a way to get in. I had taken my cell phone with me after calling Jamie myself and getting a busy signal. People have asked me since why I didn't call the police and let them go in. My answer, "That was my child in there and I was going in after him no matter what! I didn't know that he was dead. There was the possibilty that he was injured or sick or incapacitated in some way. I found a window close to the back door that I could get in. It opened into a spare bedroom off the room where the back door was. As soon as I stepped out of the bedroom, I saw Jamie. There was blood all over him, the back door, the floor, both sofas in the room, everything. I yelled "Oh Jamie!, Oh, God, Please NO!' I ran into the front room, his den.

I started frantically looking for his phone since we have E911, I wanted the call to come from his house so I wouldn't have to try and give directions. All this time I realize I'm chanting, "God Please, NO" I couldn't find his phone. I ran back into the room where he was and just stood there looking at him and sobbing. I went back to the den and called 911. I told them my son was dead. They asked me if he had a pulse. I told them I hadn't touched him but I knew he was dead. I said, "He's not moving and he's covered in blood." She said she'd send an ambulance and the Sheriffs' Dept.

My husband was again on a trip, 6 hrs. from home. I called my mother-in-law to see if Jamie's papa was there. No. Granny went to pieces when I told her. I called my sister. No answer. I called my mama to see if she knew where my sister was. She was on her way to mama's. I told her to send her to Jamie's when she got there. She wanted to know what was wrong, I told her Jamie was dead. She started wailing. Looking back I should have done it differently, but I was in shock and total panic. I called my other son's place of employment and told them to find Michael and send him to his brother's house, that it was an emergency. Then, I went back into the room to see Jamie one more time.

After a minute or two, I went outside and sat on his front porch steps to wait for my shattered world to start back up again. The officials arrived about 5 mins. later. From the time I got the call from his boss to the time I had to turn my son over to strangers, totaled about 20 mins. The rest of that day and the next few that followed were complete nightmares. I didn't want my husband told until he was home and safe. He didn't find out about Jamie's death until 4:30 that afternoon.

Jamie, Cissy, Michael and Mandy
These four were like brothers and sisters. The other three are really missing Jamie.