Jamie Fraley, 22, Missing 4/8/08, Gastonia, NC [Archive]

Faith

04-28-2008, 01:23 AM

Gaston County family helping police expand search for missing girl
April 18, 2008 - 9:51AM
Cassie Tarpley

GASTONIA - The mother of a girl missing since April 8 said she wouldn't wish the experience "on my worst enemy."

Kim Fraley spent Thursday afternoon distributing fliers near Kings Mountain, helping Gaston County Police widen their search for her daughter, Jamie Michelle Fraley.

The 22-year-old was last seen at her apartment, 1850 Bethesda Road in Gastonia, and went missing sometime on April 8, Sgt. Chris Reynolds said.

"We don't have a time narrowed down," said Reynolds, who declined to release any other details. "This is being treated as a missing person at this time."

Her mother talked to her around midnight on April 8, she said.

Ms. Fraley said her daughter is bipolar and has anxiety issues and apparently had not been taking her medication.

"She was sick that night and went to the hospital but never went to pick up her prescriptions," she said.

"Her phone was found and that's about all we have. Her last phone call was to a friend saying she wanted to go back to the hospital."

Two friends associated with The Potter's House visited The Star Thursday, asking for help in getting the word out.

Ardath Stone, office manager at The Potter's House, a women's ministry, said she's known Fraley since the girl was 8 years old and often let her stay in her home.

"Last time I saw her was at Easter and she text-messaged me that Monday," Stone said. "My concern is that I want somebody to find her. She's never done anything like this."

Ms. Fraley said family and friends are "all physically and mentally exhausted - I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy.

"I can't think what's the best way to go. The police are pounding the pavement and keeping in contact with me. We just don't have anything to go on. She's never wandered before, she doesn't have any money and I'm at a loss."

Jamie Fraley, who attends Gaston College part time, is white and stands at 4-feet-8 and weighs 90 pounds. She has long blonde hair and brown eyes.

Reynolds said anyone with information about Fraley's location should call the Gaston County Police at 704-866-3320 or CrimeStoppers at 704-861-8000. Your information could bring a reward of up to $1,000.

http://www.gastongazette.com/news/fraley_19487___article.html/police_missing.html

Faith

04-28-2008, 01:24 AM

Family Concerned About Missing Gaston County Woman

POSTED: 4:44 pm EDT April 25, 2008
UPDATED: 5:25 pm EDT April 25, 2008

http://www.wsoctv.com/2008/0425/15998176.jpg

GASTONIA, N.C. -- Police and family members of a missing Gaston County woman are asking for the public’s help.

Detectives believe 22-year-old Jamie Fraley may be in danger. Two weeks ago she disappeared from her home on Lowell Bethesda Road.

Her keys were found locked inside her home and her wallet and all of her possessions were also inside. A utility worker found her cell phone on the side of the road three miles from her home.

“This is my child. I just want my daughter home. If somebody could please tell me something,” her mother, Kim Fraley, pleaded.

Police are offering up $1,000 for information that would lead them to Jamie Fraley.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (704) 861-8000.

Also, Fraley’s family is holding a candlelight vigil for her on Sunday night. It will be at 7:30 p.m. at the First Free Will Baptist Church in Gastonia.

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/15997396/detail.html#

Faith

04-28-2008, 01:25 AM

Candle-Light Vigil Held For Missing Woman

POSTED: 10:46 pm EDT April 27, 2008
UPDATED: 10:47 pm EDT April 27, 2008

GASTONIA, N.C. -- With no signs of a 22-year old who has been missing for weeks, a distraught family is trying to keep hope alive. Jamie Fraley mysteriously disappeared 19 days ago. Sunday night, her family and friends met here at First Free Will Baptist Church and held a candle-light vigil.

Fighting back tears, Kim Fraley, Jamie's mother, led family and friends in prayer.

“If I didn't have the support of these people, I think I would have already fallen apart,” she said.

The 22-year old went missing nearly 3 weeks ago. Police believe she may be in danger. Her keys were left inside her Gastonia apartment. Her cell phone was found miles away from her place.

Hope she’ll be found alive is fading for her family.

“If you have a death in your family or something like that at least you know what happened, but this here, honestly, it gets worse everyday,” said her stepfather Gary Ray.

But Ray said prayer has kept them positive. Ray said every worse case scenario has run through his mind a hundred times, but there's always a glimmer of hope.

He said each morning they wake up, they hope it’s the day their daughter is found, the day their prayers are answered.

“And it goes on and on and on, and then you have to face the reality, it could go on for days, it could go on for weeks, it could go on for years,” said Fraley.

Family members said police have received several tip calls of possible sightings, but none of those calls have lead to anything solid.

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/16024414/detail.html

Nut44x4

05-25-2008, 09:08 AM

Woman's disappearance still a mystery
Updated: 05/11/2008 10:11 AM

GASTONIA -- As Gaston County police continue to search for 22-year-old Jamie Fraley, who disappeared April 8, her family desperately hopes someone will soon come forward with information.

Fraley's mother, Kim, said she last spoke to her daughter the night she disappeared.

"People don't just disappear without somebody hearing or seeing something," she said. "I want her to know that we're looking for her and we're going to find her. If the detectives don't, we will."

Fraley said her daughter was at her home at the Copperfield apartment complex in Gastonia when they were talking. When investigators arrived at Jamie's home, they found her apartment locked with her keys and wallet still inside. Her cell phone was found about three miles away, on New Hope Road.

"There's no drug activity or in-and-out traffic, so I don't understand how she would have gone missing from anything like that, it's not a violent place here," said Tony Roberts, one of Jamie's neighbors.

"You hear it on TV, it's a parent's worst nightmare. Trust me, it is," said Kim Fraley, who lives in Bessemer City. "You have to stay strong because if you don't stay strong for her, you can't help her."

Detectives have been heavily investigating the disappearance and have conducted a number of interviews. The Kristen Foundation is also assisting in the search.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Gaston County Police Department at 704-866-3300 or Crimestoppers at 704-861-8000.
http://news14.com/content/local_news/charlotte/595645/woman-s-disappearance-still-a-mystery/Default.aspx

KittyMom

05-30-2008, 11:28 PM

http://www.gastongazette.com/news/fraley_20944___article.html/kim_family.html

Mzeez

06-06-2008, 01:50 PM

Is there a family website for Jamie?

Faith

06-09-2008, 01:28 AM

Police: Gastonia Woman Finds Ex-Boyfriend's Dead Body In Trunk Of Car

POSTED: 12:28 am EDT June 9, 2008
UPDATED: 12:36 am EDT June 9, 2008

GASTONIA, N.C. -- A man was found dead in the trunk of his ex-girlfriends car.

Ricky Dale Simmons Sr.'s body was discovered by his ex-girlfriend Sunday evening on Bradford Street in Gastonia.

Gastonia police said the woman just filed a restraining order against Simmons last week. Officers also said Simmons has been in trouble with the law before, even serving time in state prison for killing a former girlfriend in the late 1980's.

Police aren't sure how he died, or how he ended up in the trunk of the car, but said his body was likely there most of the weekend.

Officers said the woman likely drove around for more than a day, never knowing his body was in the trunk. Police said she checked her car when she said she started smelled a bad odor coming from her car.

Gaston County Police Department was also at the scene.

They've been investigating a missing persons case for months. Jamie Fraley, 22, went missing in early April, and Simmons is connected to her case. Simmons' son was dating Fraley prior to her disappearance. She has not been found.

VIDEO
http://www.wsoctv.com/news/16545358/detail.html

Roamer

06-09-2008, 07:51 AM

This doesn't sound good at all. I hope Jamie is found safe.

Faith

06-09-2008, 02:30 PM

Man's body found in ex-girlfriend's car
Updated: 06/09/2008 12:49 PM
By: Bryn Hough

http://news14.com/Images/watch_video_txt.gif
Body Found in Trunk
News 14 Carolina's Aaron Mesmer has more from Gastonia, where a woman found the body of her ex-boyfriend in her car's trunk.

GASTONIA, N.C. -- The man whose body was found inside a woman’s trunk Sunday might be linked to the case of a missing woman, authorities said Monday.

Kim Springer found the body of her ex-boyfriend, Ricky Dale Simmonds, in the trunk of her 2007 Ford Taurus on Bradford Street. Officers haven't said how he died, but they say his body could have been there for as many as 24 hours.

Simmonds had served time in the 1980s for killing an ex-girlfriend. Springer said she had just filed a restraining order against him after her car was broken into last week.

Police say Simmonds, who worked as a maintenance man at the Copperfield apartments in Gastonia, might also be linked to the disappearance of 22-year-old Jaime Fraley, who went missing from the complex in April. Police say Simmonds is the father of Fraley’s boyfriend.

Fraley’s wallet and keys were found inside her locked apartment shortly after she was reported missing. Neighbors say Simmonds had not lived there for about two months. A $6,000 reward is being offered in the case.

Autopsy results are expected Monday.
http://news14.com/content/top_stories/596437/man-s-body-found-in-ex-girlfriend-s-car/Default.aspx

Grande

06-09-2008, 02:46 PM

http://i30.tinypic.com/2pz05g6.jpg

No picture available of either Ricky Simmonds Sr. or Jr. at this point.

Grande

06-09-2008, 02:56 PM

http://i32.tinypic.com/2hia64y.jpg

Faith

06-09-2008, 04:56 PM

Man found in car trunk suspected in missing girl case 4:30 PM

04:30 PM EDT on Monday, June 9, 2008

GASTONIA, N.C. --

http://www.wcnc.com/news/topstories/stories/M_IMAGE.11a5810cb7f.93.88.fa.d0.1586b227.jpg

Ricky Dale Simmonds
Investigators say the man who the man whose body was found in a car trunk on Sunday was a person of interest in the disappearance of a 22-year-old woman.

Ricky Dale Simmonds was found dead in the trunk of his ex-girlfriend's car in Gastonia. Kim Springer said she checked the trunk after noticing a foul smell and found Simmonds' body inside.

His cause of death has not been determined. Investigators are awaiting an autopsy report.

Meanwhile, investigators said Simmonds was a person of interest in the disappearance of Jaime Fraley. Fraley disappeared from Copperfield Apartments in Lowell on April 9.

Fraley was engaged to Simmonds' son when she went missing. Her keys were found inside of her apartment and her cell phone was found a couple of miles away from her home, but no sign of her.

Gaston County police are now conducting a new search in Fraley's case as a result of Simmond's death.

http://www.wcnc.com/news/topstories/stories/wcnc-060908-mw-simmondsfraleyconnection.16ca6738.html

Faith

06-09-2008, 04:59 PM

I wonder if his ex gf killed him? How did he get in her trunk, I would think if she did kill him she would need help carrying the body.

Grande

06-09-2008, 05:09 PM

I'm wondering if perhaps Ricky Simmonds Jr. had something to do with his father's death. Based on the NC DOC website, Jr. was released from custody on April 29, 2008 (See post 13 above). If in fact Sr. did have something to do w/ Jamie's disappearance then clearly Jr. (Who was dating Jamie at the time) would have a motive.

Faith

06-09-2008, 05:28 PM

aahhh makes sense.

Faith

06-10-2008, 12:18 AM

Dead man linked to missing woman
Updated: 06/09/2008 06:37 PM

GASTONIA, N.C. -- The man whose body was found inside a woman’s trunk Sunday might be linked to the case of a missing woman, authorities said Monday.

Jamie Fraley, 22, has been missing since early April. Two months later, her boyfriend's father, 49-year-old Ricky Dale Simonds, a person of interest in the case, turned up dead in the trunk of a car.

"We want to know who put him there, why was he there?” said Detective Sgt. Jimmy West, of the Gastonia Police Department. “All indications right now, Mr. Simonds got into the trunk under his own free will."

http://images.news14.com/media/2008/6/9/images/01simmonds_pic.jpg

Simonds lived two apartments over from Fraley at the Copperfield complex on Lowell-Bethesda Road. He is also the maintenance worker there and was one of the last people to see fraley.

Neighbor Joe Meeler says Simonds hadn't been staying in the complex since about the time Fraley disappeared. He'd apparently been living with family a few miles away. Neighbors there say police have been by a number of times questioning Simonds.

"I've seen them down here, knocking, the sheriff, maybe two, three times a day," said neighbor Mary Patterson.

http://images.news14.com/media/2008/6/9/images/02simonds_apt.jpg

Simonds’ ex-girlfriend, Kim Springer, found his body in the trunk of her 2007 Ford Taurus on Bradford Street. A week earlier, her purse and keys were stolen out of her car, and that’s when she filed a restraining order against Simonds.

"When we removed the gentleman last night, that purse was in the back of the car along with a set of car keys that were in his pocket," West said.

Simmonds had served time in the 1980s for killing an ex-girlfriend.

Gaston county police are still investigating Fraley's disappearance. They are investigating leads each week but are still looking for any information that could help the case.

http://news14.com/content/headlines/596437/man-s-body-found-in-ex-girlfriend-s-car/Default.aspx

Faith

06-10-2008, 12:29 AM

Ricky Dale Simonds Made A Big Stink
Created on June 09th, 2008

http://i27.tinypic.com/2zscgaq.jpghttp://i27.tinypic.com/157emn9.jpg

Gastonia, NC - Kim Sprenger’s car smelled funny all weekend. She first noticed it on Saturday night, but the smell was worse on Sunday when she drove some women to church. By 6:00 Sunday evening, Sprenger started scouring her car for the source of the stench. When she opened the trunk of her 2007 Ford Taurus, she found it. Her ex-boyfriend, Ricky Dale Simonds Sr., was inside her trunk. And he was ripe with the miasma of decomposition.

Sprenger did what any normal woman would do on finding a dead ex-boyfriend in her car trunk: she freaked. Then she called police. Sure enough, the body belonged to the 49 year old Simonds, who also used the last name Simmonds and Simmons. Kim Sprenger had taken out a restraining order a week earlier against him after she believed he had broken into her car. Looks like he broke into it again - and either wouldn’t get out, or couldn’t.

But the story gets weirder. See, Jamie Fraley has been missing since April 8. And Jamie Fraley’s boyfriend is Ricky Dale Simonds, Jr., the son of the dead guy in the car trunk. Jamie had been living in a Gastonia apartment complex - the same apartment complex where the elder Simonds and Kim Sprenger had been living before their breakup.

And Simonds, Sr. was no stranger to violence. In 1986, he was convicted of manslaughter after he strangled his girlfriend. Since his 1992 parole, his rap sheet has been less violent, but in April and May, Gastonia police alerted Kim Sprenger that the elder Simonds was watching her. She herself reported stalking behavior, hence the recent restraining order.

Jamie Fraley’s disappearance was just weird. She had the stomach flu and had been to the hospital twice already on the April evening she went missing. She was trying to get a third ride to the ER, but her boyfriend, Ricky Dale Simonds Jr., said she never showed up. Her purse, keys and ID were found in her locked apartment, and her cell phone was found on the side of a local road two days later. No sign of Jamie has been found.

Jamie Fraley has a lot of Myspace pages: here, here, here and here. Two of them use the name “Jamie Simonds”. She is white, tiny at 4′8″ and just 90 pounds, with blond shoulder-length hair and brown eyes. And she’s a true crime buff - one of her Myspaces is a tribute to JonBenet Ramsey. Another Myspace page is dedicated to missing persons, especially Samantha Rae Mendez from Gastonia, who has been missing since 2005.

So what happened to Jamie Fraley? Is it possible that Ricky Dale Simonds, Sr. held the answer? My gut says yes. Maybe he was an idiot who got too hot while stalking Kim Sprenger and couldn’t unlock the safety latch in her trunk. Maybe he was suicidal and wanted to frame Kim Sprenger for his death. Or maybe he didn’t get into the car trunk by himself after all. Did he know something about Jamie Fraley? Did he do something to Jamie Fraley?

It’s gonna be very interesting to see how this plays out. And while I hope very much that Jamie is alive, eight weeks is a long time to be missing without a trace. Nothing in her Myspaces, one of which was accessed the day she disappeared, indicates a problem. No trace since April 8? That doesn’t look good. And now one guy who might have some answers is dead.

Jamie’s mother says, “I feel like she’s still out there and I’m going to believe that until someone shows me otherwise.” I hope for her sake and Jamie’s that she’s right.

http://www.dreamindemon.com/2008/06/09/ricky-dale-simonds-made-a-big-stink/

Faith

06-10-2008, 12:54 AM

Man in trunk ‘of interest' in open case
He knew missing woman, police say; his body was found in ex-girlfriend's car.

http://media.charlotteobserver.com/smedia/2008/06/09/22/482-trunk0610.ART_GS932ERB.1+getimagefromdbby.thumb.pr od_affiliate.57.jpg

A man found dead in the trunk of his ex-girlfriend's car this weekend had served prison time for killing a woman in the 1980s and was a person of interest in a current investigation of a missing woman.

Ricky Dale Simonds Sr., 49, had also been under a protective order that ex-girlfriend Kim Sprenger had filed on May 27 to keep him away.

“My roommates and I are afraid,” she wrote in the order.

Police said Sprenger first noticed a strange smell in her car on her way home from work Saturday night. The smell persisted the next day as she drove friends to church in the Bradford Heights neighborhood, said Gastonia police Detective Sgt. Jimmy West. Around 6 p.m., she opened the trunk of her 2007 Ford Taurus and found Simonds inside.

West said preliminary autopsy reports indicated that Simonds died from overheating and he didn't expect any charges to be filed. Temperatures climbed above 90 degrees over the weekend.

West said Simonds may have climbed into the trunk on his own. He said police found him with a set of car keys in his pocket. Sprenger had reported her purse stolen from the car last week, he said.

The trunk had a working emergency latch, but West said it's not clear why Simonds didn't use it.

“If you get into that trunk and that heat is that intense, I'm sure that panic may set in,” he said.

West said he couldn't say whether Simonds had any weapons with him.

His cousin, Paul Husky of Charlotte, said Simonds had met Sprenger in 2003 when he started working as a painter for her family's business.

Husky said Sprenger left her husband, her south Charlotte home and her three children to live with Simonds. Her criminal record shows that she has since been convicted of fraud, writing bad checks and shoplifting.

Simonds' criminal record includes similar charges for stealing and fraud stretching to the 1980s.

Husky, 51, said Simonds had been a good person when they were kids. He said they used to go on double dates to the drive-in movies, but lost touch after high school.

“When I did see him later he was a totally different person,” Husky said. “Anything he said was lies. He was an irritable person like he hated life. He was like the devil. He made enemies everywhere he went.”

In 1986, Simonds, then 25, was convicted of manslaughter for strangling ex-girlfriend Donna Miller, 24, in her Bessemer City trailer.

After the slaying, Simonds was hospitalized for a drug overdose and charged with first-degree murder three days later. While awaiting trial, he was admitted to a state mental hospital after threatening suicide when a bondsman came to revoke his bail. He was sentenced to 20 years but released on parole in 1992, according to state records.

Recently, police said he had been a “person of interest” in the disappearance of Jamie Michelle Fraley, a 22-year-old Bessemer City woman who was reported missing on April 8. Gaston County Police Sgt. Chris Reynolds said Simonds was one of Fraley's neighbors in an apartment complex on Lowell-Bethesda Road. Reynolds said Simonds was of interest because he knew Fraley – she was dating and living with his son, Ricky Dale Simonds Jr., 31.

Simonds Jr. is not a suspect because he was in state prison when Fraley disappeared, Reynolds said. He had been convicted in January 2007 of larceny over $1,000 and served time in state prison through April 29, 2008, according to records.

Reynolds said police are still investigating Fraley's case.

http://www.charlotte.com/local/story/662150.html

Grande

06-10-2008, 09:27 AM

Thanks for the updates Faith.

Faith

06-10-2008, 08:19 PM

Fraley's family tries to hold onto hope
06/10/2008 07:04 PM

GASTONIA -- Last month, Jaime Fraley's family sat in their Bessemer City home holding onto her pictures and holding onto hope that the missing 22-year-old would be found. Now, that hope might be fading.

"I'm heartbroken and I'm hurt,” her fiancé, Ricky Simonds Jr., said. “I'm just, I'm lost."

Simonds says he believed his father, who lived next door to Fraley at the Copperfield apartments in Gastonia and was one of the last people to see her before she went missing in April, knew something about her disappearance. But on Sunday, Ricky Simonds Sr. was found dead in the trunk of his ex-girlfriend’s car.

"The first thing that popped in my mind was, ‘will I never find Jaime?" said Simonds Jr. "In my heart, I thought I might have had a link to find Jaime through Rick.”

http://images.news14.com/media/2008/6/10/images/01simonds_jr.jpg
Ricky Simonds Jr. believes his father had more information about Jaime Fraley's disapppearance than he ever told them.

Jaime’s mother, Kim Fraley, also believes Simonds knew more about the disappearance than he let on.

"In my mind, he knew something that he wasn’t telling us and now that something is gone to the grave with him and we may never find out,” she said.

Gaston County police say Simonds Sr. was a person of interest in the Fraley case. His son says the 49-year-old refused to take a lie detector test.

“[He] didn’t want to cooperate, I’m going to just say that,” he said.

As Fraley’s family waits for any news, they say they're still holding onto to the hope they have left.

"I believe my daughter's out there until somebody shows me different," Kim said.

Simonds Jr. says he believes someone else knows what happened to his fiancée and hopes if they were afraid to come forward before, they might now after the death of his father. Anyone with information is urged call Gaston County police.

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Fraley's Family Speaks
News 14 Carolina's Aaron Mesmer spoke with the missing 22-year-old's mother and future husband.

http://news14.com/content/top_stories/596487/fraley-s-family-tries-to-hold-onto-hope/Default.aspx

Faith

06-10-2008, 09:03 PM

Heat caused man's death in trunk; Police consider him a person of interest in woman's disappearance
Comments 0 | Recommend 0
June 10, 2008 - 7:33PM

Excessive heat caused the death of a man found Sunday in the trunk of his former girlfriend's Ford Taurus, according to preliminary autopsy results.

Police believe Ricky Dale Simonds Sr. hid himself in Kim Sprenger's trunk, where he died of hyperthermia.

Sprenger, who had taken out a restraining order against Simonds, reported her pocketbook and car keys stolen May 31.

"The keys were in his (Simonds') pocket," when his body was discovered, Gastonia Police Sgt. Jimmy West said.

Simonds son Rick Simonds Jr. said he identified his father's body and he and his brother made funeral arrangements for him. Simonds Jr. said he would attend the funeral, despite his suspicion that his father was involved in the disappearance of his girlfriend, 22-year-old Jamie Michelle Fraley, on April 8.

Gaston County Police Sgt. Christie Rhoney, who is leading the search for Fraley, said she doesn't know if Simonds Sr. had anything to do with her disappearance, but they are still exploring the possibility.

Detectives are still working a missing person's case, and they don't have enough evidence to make an arrest or prove that Fraley was abducted or harmed in any way, Rhoney said. Simonds Sr. was one of the last people seen with Fraley before she disappeared.

Fraley and Simonds Sr. were neighbors in the Copperfield

Apartments complex on Lowell-Bethesda Road and she was dating his son. But Rhoney said Fraley was not a part of the criminal activity that Simonds Sr. had been involved in.

"There is nothing to indicate that her lifestyle was anywhere near what Mr. Simonds was," Rhoney said. "It's a just a nice little girl that went missing."

Rhoney said Simonds death has generated new information in the search for Fraley by putting the media spotlight back on the case.

"I got a call today from a citizen who said they saw Ms. Fraley on the day she disappeared," Rhoney said.

Kim Fraley said she believes her daughter was abducted by someone she knew, but hasn't given up hope that she will eventually be found alive.

"I'll believe she's out there until somebody shows me different," Kim Fraley said. "If I didn't think that way, I'd be up on the seventh floor of some hospital sedated."

You can reach Daniel Jackson at (704) 869-1833.

______________________
http://images.onset.freedom.com/gaston/medium/k29tf2-missinggirla6.10.08.jpg
Kim Fraley sits in her kitchen with some of the flyers showing her daughter, Jamie Michelle Fraley who has been missing since April 9, 2008. She and Jamie's boyfriend, Ricky Simonds Jr. has been posting the flyers throughout Gaston County.

http://images.onset.freedom.com/gaston/medium/k29tf3-missinggirlb6.10.08.jpg
Kim Fraley holds one of the flyers showing her daughter, Jamie Michelle Fraley, who has been missing since April. She and Jamie's boyfriend, Ricky Simonds Jr., has been posting the flyers throughout Gaston County.

http://images.onset.freedom.com/gaston/medium/k29tk9-simondsrickydale.jpg
Ricky Dale Simonds Sr. died from the heat after apparently entering into the trunk of his ex-girlfriend's car. Police say he's a person of interest in the disappearance of his son's girlfriend in April.
http://www.gastongazette.com/news/simonds_21492___article.html/fraley_rhoney.html

Faith

06-11-2008, 12:38 AM

Woman who discovered ex-boyfriend's body in trunk tells of her fears, gruesome discovery
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June 10, 2008 - 10:07PM
Michael Barrett

Kim Sprenger had noticed the foul stench coming from inside her car for almost a day when she finally popped the trunk about 6 p.m. Sunday.

Before even looking at the man's face, she realized from his clothes that it was her estranged ex-boyfriend, Ricky Dale Simonds Sr.

"When I unlocked the trunk, I saw the body," she said from her home Tuesday evening, her voice breaking apart. "I didn't know at this point if he was still alive. I didn't know if he was going to jump out and attack me.

"I just backed away and started screaming."

Gastonia Police arrived soon after to confirm that Simonds was dead. They believe he opened the trunk with a key and crawled in sometime Saturday.

Sprenger ended a six-year relationship with Simonds in March and filed a restraining order against him May 26.
She believes his plan was to use an emergency latch inside the trunk to get out and attack her when she least expected it.

But temperatures over the weekend, which climbed into the high 90s, may have disoriented Simonds and killed him, according to police.

The bizarre discovery Sunday was made more strange by Simonds' involvement in the case of a missing 22-year-old girl. He was a former neighbor of Jamie Michelle Fraley, who was last seen April 8.

Simonds' son, Ricky Simonds Jr., was dating Fraley at the time she disappeared.

Sprenger lived with Simonds in the same unit at Copperfield Apartments on Lowell-Bethesda Road for some time. She asked him to move out in September, but when he moved back into a neighboring apartment a month or two later, they continued dating.

She said she knew he had served time in prison for a manslaughter conviction in 1986, but he had played down the incident. She only began to fear him after they broke up in March.

"I was never afraid of Rick until I ended our relationship," she said.

Gaston County Police were monitoring Simonds because he was a person of interest in Fraley's disappearance. They advised Sprenger last month that he had been seen around the home she shares with several other women in the Bradford Heights subdivision.

Sprenger said she noticed on the night of May 25 that a lock on the window of her home was broken and the curtain had been knocked down. That prompted her to take out the restraining order.

Then on May 31, she reported that someone broke into her car while it was parked in her driveway overnight. A black bag containing cash and her detailed appointment book were stolen from inside, she said.

Sprenger believes Simonds made a copy of her car key while they were dating, and used that to access the trunk.

She began honking the car horn when she got home from work at night, so her roommates would know to step outside. But she was becoming concerned for their safety as well as her own.

Simonds was known to carry a pocketknife, she said.

"I knew that I needed to not be alone, but I knew I may be putting others at risk," she said. "But I think women need to know they should go to any lengths necessary to keep themselves safe, and it's OK to ask for help."

Sprenger went to work at 3 p.m. Saturday. About an hour after she arrived, her car alarm started going off.

"I went out there, unlocked it and didn't see anything out of place," she said.

When she left work about 10:30 p.m., something in the car smelled bad. Sprenger thought it was something wet she had left inside.

At 8:45 a.m. Sunday, she drove several friends to church, and the stench inside the Ford Taurus had grown to be almost unbearable. Nine hours later, she decided to clean out the interior.

Simonds' body was positioned with his head on the right side of the trunk. His legs were curled up, with his knees against his chest, Sprenger said.

"Blood was coming out of his nose," she said. "It's very surreal. It's like a bad dream."

Sprenger said it frightens her how close she may have come to dying herself, had Simonds not apparently passed out.

"I have to say during this ordeal, I have continued to pray for my safety and Rick's peace," she said. "I think God gave me a solution."

Police have returned the vehicle to her.

"It's been cleaned," she said.

When she lived with Simonds at Copperfield Apartments, Sprenger said she knew Fraley well. Fraley would watch Sprenger's dog while she was at work.

The three would sometimes spend time together. But Sprenger said she doesn't know the extent of Fraley and Simonds' relationship with each other.

"As far as his relationship with her, I can't really comment on that," she said. "You'd have to ask Rick, and you really can't do that anymore."

Sprenger said she has cooperated with the police investigation into Fraley's disappearance. She said she took and passed a lie detector test.

She believes Simonds may have been involved in whatever happened to Fraley. And she said she sympathizes with what Kim Fraley of Bessemer City must be going through.

"As a mother," she said, "I understand her pain."

You can reach Michael Barrett at 704-869-1826.

http://www.gastongazette.com/news/simonds_21497___article.html/sprenger_fraley.html

BoricuaGirl

07-01-2008, 08:47 PM

Wow...doesn't this give you goosebumps? Somebody had sent her the following on MySpace, the day before she went missing:

"Love you to death and I will always be there for you...I'm just letting you know this because tomorrow may be too late and you may never know how I really felt, so if I never talk to you again in my life, you are very special to me.. I look up to you, respect you and truly cherish you..And I am very thankful to have you in my life.." :frown:

Faith

07-01-2008, 09:17 PM

:cray:

Faith

07-24-2008, 11:32 PM

No peace for mother of Jamie Fraley, who's been missing since April

(video link)
http://www.gastongazette.com/video/index.php?bcpid=1155201824&bclid=1155106715&bctid=1688297509

July 24, 2008 - 5:02PM

Kim Fraley finds memories of her daughter no matter where she is, from the pictures in her home to a song on the car stereo or a favorite restaurant. (watch video)

But no matter where she turns or how hard she looks, she can't seem to find anything that would explain the disappearance of 22-year-old Jamie Michelle Fraley in April. And until she finds her daughter, Kim Fraley said she won't find peace anywhere.

"It's even hard to go to Wal-Mart because you see people carrying on with their daily lives and you can't," Kim Fraley said Thursday. "My life doesn't go on. My life is turned upside down. It changes who you are. It changes your life forever."

The desperate mother plans to release more than 100 balloons into the air in hopes that one of them finds her missing daughter or someone who has seen her. The event is scheduled for 11 a.m. Aug. 23, at Lineberger Park in Gastonia.

"You never know where these balloons are going to land," Kim Fraley said. "They could land anywhere and somebody could pick it up and say, ‘I saw that girl.'"

At this point, Kim Fraley said there is no evidence that would lead her or police to her daughter. But as long as her daughter is missing, Fraley said she'd continue to believe that she's alive. Someone out there knows what happened to her and where she is, she said.

A person of interest in the investigation, Ricky Simonds Sr., was found dead in the trunk of his ex-girlfriend's car June 8. Simonds Sr., one of the last people to see Fraley, apparently hid himself in the trunk and died of hyperthermia.

After Simonds Sr.'s death, Kim Fraley said she believed he knew something about her daughter's disappearance.

The balloons might seem like a hopeless attempt to find information, but Kim Fraley said her efforts prove that she has not given up hope. And the event will bring together people that love and miss her daughter in fellowship.

"It's another way of showing that we haven't given up," Kim Fraley said. "I don't ever want people to think that I've given up. I might have a breakdown every other day, but I've got friends and family. And I get up, brush myself off and I'm going again."

There is an $8,000 reward for information about Jamie's whereabouts. Gaston County Police ask that anyone with information about this case to contact them at 704-866-3320 or call Crime Stoppers at 704-861-8000.

http://www.gastongazette.com/news/fraley_23023___article.html/kim_finds.html

Faith

07-24-2008, 11:34 PM

Prayers for Jamie. :1222423:

Grande

07-29-2008, 10:28 AM

Friend hopes people don't give up on search for Jamie Fraley
July 28, 2008 - 1:59PM
Daniel Jackson

Tammy Maier said she reads the newspaper every day, hoping to find answers in the disappearance of her friend and former neighbor Jamie Fraley.

After reading an article last week in the Gaston Gazette about Kim Fraley's desperate search for her missing daughter, Maier said she decided she had to find a way to help.

So Maier, who works at Nichol's Food Store on McAdenville Road near the I-85 North off-ramp in Belmont, said she put a jug on the counter to raise money for Kim Fraley's search.

"I used to live right below Jamie," Maier said. "We were real close. When we moved to Tennessee, she gave me a blanket to take with me. ... I cherish this blanket. I'm wrapped up in it right now. It's all I got left of her."

Maier said she has never met Kim Fraley, but Jamie used to talk about her all the time. Maier said she lost her 6-year-old son, David Bradshaw, 13 years ago to a heart infection, and she knows the pain of losing a child.

Money raised at the convenience store will be presented to Kim Fraley on Aug. 23 at Lineberger Park. The family plans to release more than 100 balloons at 11 a.m. to rally the ongoing search for the missing 22-year-old, who was last seen in April.

After moving back to Gaston County, Maier said she talked to Jamie Fraley occasionally. She said she also knew Ricky Simonds Sr., who was a person of interest in the disappearance until he was found dead on June 8. Police say Simonds climbed into his girlfriend's trunk and died of hyperthermia.

Maier said she found about the disappearance one day, when she drove by the apartment complex where she, Fraley and Simonds used to live and saw police cars. Then police talked to her boyfriend Michael Hester.

Hester saw Simonds a couple of days before his death. Maier said Simonds was looking for a place to stay, but he did not talk about Jamie Fraley's disappearance.

Like Kim Fraley, Maier said she wouldn't be surprised if Simonds's had known something about the missing woman.

Maier said she hopes someone else knows where Jamie Fraley is and that person will come forward, giving the family closure.

"I just wish if anybody knew anything, they'd say something," Maier said. "I know how her momma is feeling. It hurts."

You can reach Daniel Jackson at 704-869-1833.

http://www.gastongazette.com/news/fraley_23171___article.html/maier_jamie.html

Grande

07-30-2008, 10:01 AM

Investigators search lake for missing 22-year-old 4:36 PM
04:36 PM EDT on Tuesday, July 29, 2008
By WCNC Staff
E-mail Us: NEWS@WCNC.com

LOWELL, N.C. -- Gaston County investigators searched a lake on Tuesday, looking for clues in the disappearance of 22-year-old Jaime Fraley.

Fraley has been missing since April 9.

Investigators went to Lake Armstrong off Lowell Bethesda Road at about 9 a.m. Tuesday. They searched most of the day, but found nothing.

Gaston County police would not confirm they were searching the lake as a result of a tip, but divers said they brought cadaver dogs out on boats and the dogs hit on something at both ends, but the search turned up nothing.

Divers said the lake is only about 6 to 7 feet deep and visibility is very poor.

Fraley was last seen at her apartment in Lowell, which is across the street from the fishing lake.

Investigators said they do not plan to search the lake again.

Anyone with information on Fraley's disappearance should contact Gaston County CrimeStoppers at 704-861-8000.

http://www.wcnc.com/news/topstories/stories/wcnc-072908-mw-fraleylakesearch.1508c0e5.html

Grande

07-30-2008, 10:02 AM

Search of pond fails to turn up woman missing since April
July 29, 2008 - 7:57PM
Daniel Jackson

Divers searched a fishing pond Tuesday for a 22-year-old woman who has been missing since April 8, but there was no sign of Jamie Fraley.

Mother Kim Fraley said she waited in agony Tuesday at her house for the results of the search. Kim Fraley said she desperately wants to find her daughter, but not drowned in a nearby pond.

"I was out of it, sitting here waiting. It was horrible," Fraley said. "Of course, I'm relieved. It gives me hope that she's out there alive."

Gaston County Police Sgt. Christie Rhoney said police have conducted multiple searches of the area surrounding the pond, which is across the street from Fraley's apartment off Lowell-Bethesda Road.

County Police have searched the area by air, on land, in the water and with three different types of dogs. In the last month, police have also done a grid search of 2 acres surrounding the apartment complex, which is the last known place that Fraley was seen.

On Tuesday, the Gaston Emergency Medical Services Search and Rescue Team sent divers into the pond to assist County Police.

At this point, Rhoney said the search for Fraley is probably the most intensive missing person investigation in Gaston County history.

"They've covered every foot of that area out there," Rhoney said. "We have looked at every avenue and gone down it two or three times to make sure again."

Kim Fraley said the last few weeks have been difficult. She said she lost her job at an assisted-living facility last week after she requested personal leave.

The mother said she has been teetering on the edge of an emotional meltdown for weeks, but whenever the tears come, she said she's tried to pull herself together and keep going.

Kim Fraley has contemplated the possibility that her daughter is dead, but regardless of how long the search wears on, she say she'll never be ready for the worst.

"I don't think that's something you could ever prepare for," she said.

Rhoney said any tiny piece of information could be valuable to the search for Fraley. The investigation has already uncovered several pieces of the puzzle and a fact that might appear to be insignificant could help police solve the case, she said.

"There's just few small pieces that are missing," Rhoney said.

A $6,000 reward has been offered for information related to the disappearance of Jamie Fraley. Tips should be reported by telephone to the Gaston County Police Department at 704-866-3320 or CrimeStoppers of Gaston County at 704-861-8000.

You can reach Daniel Jackson at 704-869-1833.

http://www.gastongazette.com/news/fraley_23235___article.html/search_police.html

Grande

08-08-2008, 09:12 AM

Autopsy report: Man found in trunk had recently used alcohol, cocaine
August 7, 2008 - 8:45PM
Michael Barrett

A Gastonia man had recently used cocaine and consumed alcohol before he was found dead in the trunk of his ex-girlfriend's car in June, according to a report released Thursday.

The autopsy by the N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner confirmed that Ricky Dale Simonds Sr., 49, likely died from the intense heat in the trunk when temperatures crested into the high 90s that weekend.

"It seems likely that cocaine and alcohol intoxication resulted in an altered level of consciousness that allowed environmental heat exposure and hyperthermia," the report states.

Simonds was found about 6 p.m. June 13 when Kim Sprenger of Gastonia popped the trunk of her Ford Taurus. She decided to look inside after smelling a foul stench from inside the car for almost a day.

Sprenger had ended a six-year relationship with Simonds in March and moved away from the Copperfield Apartments complex where they lived on Lowell-Bethesda Road. But he reportedly began stalking her, prompting her to file a restraining order against him on May 26.

Gastonia Police believe Simonds crawled into Sprenger's car trunk on his own sometime on June 12, using a car key he had stolen from her. Police believe he planned to use an emergency latch inside the trunk to get out and attack her at some point, but the extreme heat disoriented him, possibly causing him to pass out.

The unusual nature of Simonds' death was compounded by his connection to the case of Jamie Fraley, 22, who has been missing since April 8. She and Simonds Sr. were previously neighbors and he was one of the last people to see Fraley before she disappeared.

Simonds was a "person of interest" immediately after Fraley vanished, police said. His estranged son, Ricky Simonds Jr., was dating Fraley at the time she disappeared, but was never a suspect because he was incarcerated on April 8.

Simonds Sr. was wearing a white, short-sleeve pullover shirt, blue jeans and black boots when he was found in the trunk, according to the autopsy report, conducted on June 9. He had $2 in his pocket.

His body was moderately decomposed, primarily in his head and upper torso, and his clothing was damp. He had several superficial injuries to his left elbow, lower right leg and three fingers, the report stated.

The autopsy found that Simonds' lungs and brain had swelled, and toxicology tests showed traces of alcohol and cocaine in his body.

Gaston County Police Sgt. Christie Rhoney said Simonds Sr. and Fraley were acquaintances at the apartment complex, but mainly through Sprenger. While Simonds reportedly had a history of drug use, Fraley did not, Rhoney said.

"Everything we have come around has indicated that she had absolutely no drug involvement," she said. "Her friendship was more with the girlfriend."

Divers recently searched for Fraley in a fishing pond near her apartment. They have looked extensively for her in that area since she vanished, Rhoney said, and also conducted an intense, three-acre grid search around the complex.

Any piece of information someone has about Fraley, Simonds or any other aspect of the case could help police, Rhoney said.

"We're only missing a few little pieces of information," she said. "

You can reach Michael Barrett at (704) 869-1826.

http://www.gastongazette.com/news/simonds_23563___article.html/fraley_trunk.html

Grande

08-25-2008, 09:35 AM

Published: August 22, 2008 09:01 am
Event to assist search for missing woman
22-year old Albemarle native last seen in Gastonia in April
By Dexter Hinson, Staff Writer

A balloon raiser will be held this weekend to aid in the search for a relative of local people.

Starting at 11 a.m. Saturday, organizers plan to have a fellowship consisting of a picnic and prayer at Gastonia’s Lineberger Park.

Born in Albemarle, Jamie Michelle Fraley, who is 22 and has relatives who live in Stanly County, was last seen on April 9 at her apartment at 1850 Lowell Bethesda Road. What she was wearing is unknown.

Anyone with any information in the case is asked to call the Stanly County Sheriff’s Office at (704) 986-3714.

Dexter Hinson can be contacted at (704) 982-2121 ext. 21 or at snaponline21@carolina.rr.com.

http://www.thesnaponline.com/local/local_story_235090104.html

Grande

08-25-2008, 09:38 AM

Prayers sent to the heavens
Balloons with notes asking for help finding Jamie Farley, who has been missing since April, released
August 23, 2008 - 9:51PM
Corey Friedman

http://i33.tinypic.com/e1arz6.jpg

GASTONIA - Someone who's glimpsed Jamie Fraley might recognize her face floating down from the heavens.

Fraley's family and their friends sprinkled the sky over Lineberger Park in Gastonia with helium balloons Saturday morning. Tied to the balloons were index card-sized placards with a phorograph of the 22-year-old who has been missing since April 8.

"I have no idea how far these balloons can go," said Jamie's mother, Kim Fraley. "It's kind of like putting a message in a bottle and throwing it into the ocean."

Dozens of people came to show their support and help release about 170 balloons from the park - one of Jamie's favorite places to play and swim as a child. As the search wears on into its fifth month, Fraley said she wants to keep her daughter's disappearance on the forefront of everyone's mind.

"I just try to come up with different things to do to keep her in the public eye," Fraley said. "We have to keep the word out. We can't let it be put on the back burner. People forget and they go on with their lives, but I can't go on with mine until I get some closure."

Jamie was last seen April 8 at her Lowell-Bethesda Road apartment. Family members found her keys and identification inside her apartment, and her cell phone was found about three miles away on New Hope Road two days after she went missing

Her mother believes someone Jamie knew had abducted her, but said leads in the case have been scarce.

Ricky Simonds Sr., whom police had called a person of interest in Jamie's disappearance, was found dead June 8 in his ex-girlfriend's trunk.

"If he had any answers, he took them to the grave with him, and we'll never know unless anyone else comes forward," Fraley said.

Folks gathered in the park and released the multicolored balloons individually and in clusters. Gospel music played as the balloons ascended past treetops and faded into the milky clouds.

Fraley said she endures daily heartache, but has been comforted by very supportive family and friends.

"There's plenty of days I pull the covers over my head, but there are good days and bad days, and on the good days, I try to get as much done as I can," she said. "Every morning when you get up, you feel like you're waking up to another death in the family. And you have to go about your day."

Fraley has contacted national missing person assistance groups and hopes to continue spreading the word. She will presume her daughter to be alive unless investigators find evidence to the contrary.

"I have to believe she's out there, and there's no evidence to show me any different," she said. "It could be six months from now or six years from now - I'll still keep the word out there."

Authorities are offering an $8,000 reward for information on Jamie's whereabouts. Anyone with information should call the Gaston County Police at 704-866-3320 or Crime Stoppers at 704-861-8000.

You can reach Corey Friedman at 704-869-1828.

http://www.gastongazette.com/news/fraley_24097___article.html/jamie_balloons.html

Amusedtdth

08-25-2008, 09:50 AM

http://www.rolministries.net/_003_Praying_Hands.jpg

nanabillie

10-08-2008, 10:43 PM

http://www.gastongazette.com/news/miller_25820___article.html/fraley_missing.html

What is this? (http://javascript<b></b>:void(0);)
High-profile search team to look for missing Gastonia woman

October 8, 2008 - 4:39PM
Daniel Jackson (djackson@gastongazette.com)

A high-profile search and recovery team has agreed to come assist law enforcement in the search for Gastonia-resident Jamie Fraley, who vanished on April 8.
Texas EquuSearch Inc.-founder Tim Miller said he expects to be in Gaston County by the end of next week, after returning from Orlando. His team is there searching for two missing persons that have received national media attention - 3-year-old Caylee Anthony, who went missing in June, and 27-year-old Jennifer Keese, who vanished in January 2006.
While he can't promise results, Miller said he does have more than 800 members nationwide and eight years of experience on more than 930 cases. Miller said his group is better equipped than any law enforcement agency in the nation with the latest technological equipment.
And Miller said he also has a deep understanding of what Fraley's family is going through. His 16-year-old daughter Laura Miller went missing in 1984 and was dismissed as a runaway until police found her body with the remains of other murdered women 17 months later.
"I promised my daughter and I promised God I would never leave another family alone," Miller said. "I never knew there would be so many families going through what I went through."
Kim Fraley, the missing girl's mother, said her sister Stacy Dennis, who works in law enforcement in North Carolina, contacted Texas EquuSearch a few months ago. Miller recently spoke with Gaston County Police investigators, who have been searching diligently for Fraley and welcomed the additional help, she said.
"I've been praying for this for a long time," Kim Fraley said Wednesday after talking to Miller. "He's going to do everything he can to try and bring my baby home."
Founded in 2000 in the North Galveston area, Miller said the group was initially a team that searched on horseback. But soon Miller said new recruits approached him with other resources and expertise, groups of ATV enthusiasts, divers, helicopter pilots and canine search teams.
Since its inception, the group has recovered 87 missing people, closing those cases and allowing grieving family members to say their final farewells. Miller said he doesn't charge families anything for his services, but the group is funded exclusively by donations and is usually strapped for cash.
Local volunteers familiar with the area also provide other valuable resources. Because they are familiar with the area, they offer guidance and sometimes meals and lodging, he said.
In addition to money, time is always an issue, Miller said. The longer a person has been missing the harder it is to find them. But in some cases, Miller said his team has used the latest technology to quickly locate people that had not been seen in years.
Miller said his team found an Oklahoma woman who had been missing for five years in 35 minutes using the latest sonar equipment to search a lake for her vehicle.
And Miller said he has been actively involved in the search for missing Alabama-teen Natalee Holloway, who disappeared in May 2005 on a high school graduation trip to Aruba. Miller said he's flown to Aruba eight times and recently found an eyewitness. Miller claims Aruban detectives dismissed the witness's testimony, but Miller said he flew the man to Houston for a polygraph test, which he passed.
"He passed the polygraph. So I took it to the prosecuting attorney and said what are you going to do?" Miller said.
Miller said sometimes they review the investigation of local law enforcement and find that there is nothing more they can do, but if there is even a slim chance of success, they'll go to work.
At this point, the person responsible for Fraley's disappearance is probably relaxing and thinking the investigation is nearly over, Miller said. If nothing else, Miller said the search team would generate new interest, would probably increase the reward offered for information and give some comfort to Fraley's family.
"We're hoping law enforcement gets that magic phone call that takes the investigation in a brand new direction," Fraley said. "I just want to get there and hug (Kim Fraley's) neck and say I'm sorry for what you're going through."
You can reach Daniel Jackson at 704- 869-1833.
On the Web: www.texasequusearch.org (http://www.texasequusearch.org)
Jamie Michelle Fraley
Description: 4-foot-8, weighing 90 pounds, with blond hair and blue eyes
Age: 22
Gaston College student, Gastonia

Nut44x4

10-11-2008, 12:56 PM

Next week, Texas EquuSearch will be in North Carolina, participating in searches for Kelly Morris, missing since 9/3/08 in Stem, NC and Jamie Fraley, missing since 4/8/08 in Gastonia, NC. Texas EquuSearch has been in contact with both families recently and is anxious to arrive in North Carolina to start their searches. We hope that we will be able to help the families locate their loved ones and bring some peace back into their lives.
http://www.texasequusearch.org/

Faith

10-19-2008, 11:31 PM

Texas team searches for 3 missing local women starting Tuesday

Comments 0 (http://www.gastongazette.com/news/women_26186___article.html/team_missing.html#slComments) | Recommend (javascript:recommendReview('Articlegaston26186')) 0 Texas EquuSearch will look for Jamie Fraley, Jennifer Rivkin and Mouy Tang

October 19, 2008 - 10:49PM
Daniel Jackson (djackson@gastongazette.com)

A high-profile search and recovery team has plans to meet with Gaston County detectives today and should begin searching Tuesday for Jamie Fraley, who disappeared April 8.

Also Texas EquuSearch Inc.-founder Tim Miller recently announced plans to look for two other missing women in our area, as well - Jennifer Rivkin, who disappeared from Gastonia May 6, and Mouy Tang, a 46-year-old woman who vanished from an assisted care facility near Lawndale on Sept. 3.

"I've been on pins and needles all weekend," said Kim Fraley, who asked Texas EquuSearch to help her find her missing daughter.
Joan Petruski, founder of the Charlotte-based Kristen Foundation for Missing Adults, said Bessemer City Central Gym on Washington Avenue will be the command post for Texas EquuSearch's operation in the area.

The organization is asking for adult volunteers with identification, especially those who might be able to assist the search efforts on an ATV. Volunteers are encouraged to dress for searching in wooded areas. Donations of food and water for volunteers are also needed, Petruski said.

Miller started Texas EquuSearch after his 16-year-old daughter Laura Miller was abducted and murdered in 1984. The organization has more than 800 members nationwide and eight years of experience on more than 930 missing-person cases.
Texas EquuSearch most recently conducted searches for 28-year-old Kelly Morris, who disappeared from Stem on Sept. 4. Prior to visiting North Carolina, his team was searching Orlando for two missing people that have received national media attention - 3-year-old Caylee Anthony, who went missing in June, and 27-yearold Jennifer Keese, who vanished in January 2006.

Miller has also been active in the ongoing search for Alabama-teen Natalee Holloway, who vanished from Aruba during a senior class trip in 2005.
"He's a busy man," said Petruski.

http://www.gastongazette.com/news/women_26186___article.html/team_missing.html

Faith

10-20-2008, 09:22 PM

Family waits for closure in missing woman search

Monday, Oct 20 2008, 5:03 pm

Texas EquuSearch looking into Mouy Tang, Gaston women disappearances
Monday, Oct 20 2008, 5:03 pm

The team revealed they should begin searching Tuesday for 22-year-old Gastonia resident Jamie Fraley, who went missing April 8.
Texas EquuSearch founder Tim Miller also announced plans to look for a third woman, Jennifer Rivkin, who disappeared from Gastonia May 6.
"I've been on pins and needles all weekend," said Kim Fraley, who asked Texas EquuSearch to help her find her missing daughter.

Joan Petruski, founder of Charlotte-based Kristen Foundation for Missing Adults, said Bessemer City Central Gym on Washington Avenue would be the command post for Texas EquuSearch's operation in the area.

The organization is asking for adult volunteers with identification, especially those who might be able to assist the search efforts on an ATV. Volunteers are encouraged to dress for searching in wooded areas. Donations of food and water for volunteers are also needed, Petruski said.

Miller started Texas EquuSearch after his 16-year-old daughter, Laura, was abducted and murdered in 1984. The organization has more than 800 members nationwide and eight years of experience on more than 930 missing-person cases.

http://www.shelbystar.com/news/missing_34426___article.html/equusearch_texas.html

Lolina

11-01-2008, 10:15 PM

Tim Miller is such a wonderful human being and a blessing to those around him. I am in awe of his courage and dedication.

:bump:

Lolina

11-01-2008, 10:18 PM

Texas team makes plans to search for missing women

October 21, 2008 - 8:24PM
Daniel Jackson

A high profile, international search and recovery team met with Gaston County Police detectives Monday, as they prepare to search for Jamie Fraley, who has been missing since April 8.

And Texas EquuSearch Inc. founder Tim Miller said he has plans to meet Tuesday with Cleveland County law enforcement to discuss the disappearance of Mouy Tang, a 46-year-old woman who vanished from an assisted care facility near Lawndale on Sept. 3.

The group has also announced that they will search for Jennifer Rivkin, who disappeared from Gastonia May 6, in addition to a search that is already underway for 28-year-old Kelly Morris, who disappeared from Stem in Granville County on Sept. 4.

Miller said the meeting with Gaston detectives Monday was "very productive," but he said the search for Fraley would not begin immediately as he had hoped. Teams could begin searching for Fraley this weekend, he said, but the planning process could take longer.

"We really have to do some planning," Miller said. "This case is six months old."

Miller said he needs to get familiar with the area and make sure he has the right equipment and resources for the case before the search begins.

On Monday, Miller said he also visited Bessemer City Central Gym on Washington Avenue, which could serve as a command post for Texas EquuSearch's operation in the area.

Miller started Texas EquuSearch after his 16-year-old daughter Laura Miller was abducted and murdered in 1984. The organization has more than 800 members nationwide and eight years of experience on more than 930 missing-person cases.

Texas EquuSearch most recently conducted searches for 28-year-old Kelly Morris, who disappeared from Stem in Granville County on Sept. 4. Before visiting North Carolina, his team was searching Orlando for two missing people that have received national media attention - 3-year-old Caylee Anthony, who went missing in June, and 27-year-old Jennifer Keese, who vanished in January 2006.

Miller has also been active in the ongoing search for Alabama teen Natalee Holloway, who vanished from Aruba during a senior class trip in 2005.

"I've been on pins and needles all weekend," said Kim Fraley, who asked Texas EquuSearch to help her find her missing daughter.

http://www.gastongazette.com/news/search_26271___article.html/missing_plans.html

nicky

11-05-2008, 10:58 AM

I can't even begin to imagine the stress Tim is under. I hope he has some success in these cases, for the families and for him. He is a hero in my book.

Amusedtdth

11-05-2008, 11:14 AM

I can't even begin to imagine the stress Tim is under. I hope he has some success in these cases, for the families and for him. He is a hero in my book.

Nicky, ITA - Tim is beyond a hero and he takes no credit for the help he and his team has given to countless searches. May God Bless this man and his team in all the work they do. :hifive:

Faith

11-11-2008, 10:08 PM

Mother hopes exposure on 'America's Most Wanted' helps find missing daughter
Comments 0 | Recommend 0
November 11, 2008 - 6:43PM

Jamie Fraley's name has been added to a list of missing adults on the Web site of "America's Most Wanted," a fugitive-finding television show with a devoted following of citizen sleuths. (see AMW link) (http://www.amw.com/missing_persons/case.cfm?id=60357)

The Gaston County 22-year-old has been missing since April 8 from her apartment on Lowell Bethesda Road. Her mother, Kim Fraley, was excited to learn Tuesday that the case had been posted on AMW.com.

"I'm not a computer whiz, so I didn't know," she said. "Hopefully if she's on the Web site, they'll pick it up and even just use her picture on the show. It's national, and we need national attention. It's the only way we're going to get someone to come forward."

A team of investigators from high-profile search and recovery team Texas Equusearch is in North Carolina to look for three missing women: Fraley, Jennifer Rivkin and Mouy Tang. Kim Fraley is hopeful that search efforts and media exposure will help reveal her daughter's whereabouts.

"I'm just going through so much at one time," she said. "When it rains, it pours...you can't give up hope. We've got to keep pushing, we've got to keep it out there."

Rivkin, 43, was reported missing from Gastonia on May 4.

Kim Fraley has volunteered to help search for Mouy Tang, a 45-year-old woman who went missing from Cleveland County on Sept. 3. She said families and friends of those missing should band together and reach out to each other.

Jamie Fraley went to the emergency room with abdominal pain April 8 and didn't fill her prescription because she thought she was suffering from something more serious than her doctor's diagnosis, according to the profile on America's Most Wanted. She returned home and later had her boyfriend's father, Ricky Dale Simonds Sr., take her back to the hospital that evening.

When she learned she'd have to wait more than three hours, Jamie called a neighbor for a ride and returned home around midnight. She made several phone calls and spoke to her mother and to a friend who lives in Albemarle.

Police say Jamie told her friend that her ride had arrived and could be heard walking down the stairs outside her apartment.

Her cell phone was found a few miles from the apartment on April 11.

Simonds Sr., whom police considered a "person of interest" in Jamie's disappearance, was found dead in the trunk of ex-girlfriend Kim Sprenger's car June 8.

Jamie's boyfriend, Ricky Dale Simonds Jr., was in prison when the 22-year-old went missing and isn't considered a suspect.

"People just don't go poof," said Kim Fraley. "She's got to be out there somewhere. Somebody knows something. They're just not talking."

http://www.gastongazette.com/news/missing_27028___article.html/fraley_jamie.html

Faith

11-13-2008, 03:05 AM

Search for missing Gaston County woman goes national

02:38 PM EST on Wednesday, November 12, 2008

GASTON COUNTY, N.C. -- The missing person's case for a Gaston County woman has gone national.

Jamie Fraley, 22, was last seen at her apartment in Lowell in April.

In June, a man suspected of stalking Fraley was found dead in the trunk of his ex-girlfriend's car.

Now, the TV show "America's Most Wanted" is getting involved in the search for Fraley.
Also Online

Related Stories:
• Man in trunk suspected in disappearance
• Family pleads for help finding missing 22-year-old

Her story is featured on the AMW website at

http://www.amw.com/missing_persons/brief.cfm?id=60357

http://www.wcnc.com/news/topstories/stories/wcnc-111208-mw-fraley_search.1a6e8a742.html

365investigations

11-15-2008, 08:05 PM

It looks to me they could have some one there that has somthing to hide and wants to kept it that way...........

Faith

11-16-2008, 12:17 AM

Hi 365, welcome to HFTM.

Faith

11-29-2008, 11:10 PM

Family not giving up search for missing Gaston County woman
Comments 0 | Recommend 0
November 26, 2008 - 6:50 PM

There's an empty chair at her Thanksgiving table, but the mother of a missing Gaston County woman still has reasons to be grateful.

Kim Fraley is giving thanks for a new billboard offering a $10,000 reward to anyone who can help locate her daughter, 22-year-old Jamie Fraley. Fairway Outdoor Advertising donated the space, and the paper billboard was designed and placed by the Kristen Foundation.

"I would rather sleep through the holidays, but you can't do that. You have to be strong," Fraley said. "There's no crime scene, there's no hard evidence, there's nothing to show me that she's no longer with us. Until somebody shows me different, I'm going to believe she's still out there somewhere."

The Charlotte-based Kristen Foundation is now managing the search for Jamie. Kim Fraley said high-profile search and rescue group Texas EquuSearch has no immediate plans to coordinate a search operation. EquuSearch announced in early October that its search teams would help look for Jamie and two other missing North Carolina women.

Joan Petruski, founder of the Kristen Foundation, said Search Tactics and Rescue Recovery from South Carolina and another search group from Florida will arrive sometime in January to organize a search for Jamie.

STARR participated in a recent search for 45-year-old Mouy Tang, who is missing from Cleveland County. Fraley and Petruski were volunteers in that search.

Fairway has offered to place the billboard in four area locations including the current site near 901 Wilkinson Blvd. in Cramerton, Petruski said.

"It's not going to come down, it will move from one spot to the next," she said. "I am not giving up on this case."

Jamie Fraley has been missing since April 8 from her apartment on Lowell Bethesda Road. She went to the emergency room with abdominal pain twice and made cell phone calls to her mother and a friend around midnight.

Her phone was found a few miles from her apartment on April 11. A person of interest in the case, Ricky Dale Simonds Sr., was found dead in the trunk of his ex-girlfriend's car on June 8.

Jamie's boyfriend, Ricky Dale Simonds Jr., was in prison when she went missing. Police don't consider him a suspect in the disappearance.

"This is not going to be an easy case to solve," Petruski said. "This is going to be about someone getting a conscience. ... just because something isn't easy doesn't mean we give up."

Jamie's disappearance has attracted attention from local media, national missing person groups and "America's Most Wanted," which featured the 22-year-old on its Web site and showed her photo and description during a recent episode.

The billboard directs anyone with information to call Gaston County Police and offers a $10,000 reward for information leading to Jamie's whereabouts.

Named for Kristen Modafferi, a N.C. State University student from Charlotte who disappeared in 1997 from San Francisco, the Kristen Foundation has raised more than $200,000 to organize searches for missing adults since 1999.

The foundation's efforts have sparked a fast friendship between Fraley and Petruski.

"We've become close," Fraley said. "She worked hard to get the billboard up and she calls me on a daily basis. She's been a lot of support. She has a great heart and she loves the families. In the last couple months, she's been a lot of support to me."

You can reach Corey Friedman at 704-869-1828.

WANT TO HELP?

Jamie Michelle Fraley, 22, has been missing since April 8 and was last seen at 1850 Lowell Bethesda Road outside Gastonia. She is 4 feet 8 inches tall, has blond hair and brown eyes and weighs 90 pounds. Anyone with information on her whereabouts can call Gaston County Police at 704-866-3320.

The Kristen Foundation, a national nonprofit group that helps families of missing adults, is coordinating the search for Jamie Fraley. To make a donation or volunteer to help with search operations, call 704-996-5066 or e-mail help@kristenfoundation.org. For more information about the group, visit www.kristenfoundation.org.

http://www.gastongazette.com/news/search_27564___article.html/fraley_jamie.html

sarahhod

12-07-2008, 05:02 PM

Pain, loss and searching go on
The burden grows during the holidays as families in the Gaston and Cleveland areas look for loved ones and clues in unsolved cases.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/local/story/394211.html

By Joe DePriest and Hannah Mitchell
jdepriest@charlotteobserver.com and HMitchell@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Sunday, Dec. 07, 2008

Jamie Fraley

Reported missing: April 9, 2008

Age at time of disappearance: 22.

Contact with any information: Gaston County Police Department at 704-866-3320 or Crime Stoppers at 704-861-8000.

Mouy Tang

Reported missing: Sept. 3, 2008.

Age at time of disappearance: 46.

Contact with any information: Cleveland County Sheriff's Office at 704-484-4800.

Jennifer Rivkin

Reported missing: May 6, 2008

Age at time of disappearance: 42.

Contact with any information: Gastonia Police Department at 704-866-6702.

Irina "Ira" Yarmolenko

Body found in Mount Holly: May 5, 2008.

Age at time: 20.

Contact with any information: Mount Holly Police Department 704-827-4343, CrimeStoppers at 704-861-8000 or UNC Charlotte Police 704-687-2200.

Travis Baker

Reported missing: April 16, 2007.

Age at time of disappearance: 20.

Contact with any information: Catawba County Sheriff's Office at 828-464-5241.

Wayne Conner

Reported missing: July 24, 2003.

Age at time of disappearance: 61.

Contact with any information: Catawba County Sheriff's Office at 828-464-5241.
As the year winds down, their sorrow and frustration stays fresh.

Gaston- and Cleveland-area families are still searching for Jamie Fraley, Jennifer Rivkin and Mouy Tang – women missing for months; a brother is still looking for the killer who left his sister's body beside the Catawba River in Mount Holly; and Catawba County families are searching for Travis Baker and Wayne Conner.

The burden of unanswered questions grows even heavier during the holiday season.

“Holidays are awful for them,” said Joan Petruski, founder of the Charlotte-based Kristen Foundation, a national nonprofit that crusades for relatives of missing adults. “They want to crawl away and hide. But I tell them they have to go on with their lives, that there are people out there who can help them.”

“It's been horrible,” said Kim Fraley, mother of 22-year-old Jamie Fraley, who vanished from her apartment on April 9. “I can't get any relief.”

Jamie Fraley lived in an apartment complex on Lowell-Bethesda Road outside Gastonia. Police said a “person of interest” in her disappearance was Ricky Dale Simonds Sr., 49, who lived in the same complex. In early June, Simonds' body was found in the trunk of his ex-girlfriend's car. He had served prison time for killing a woman in the 1980s, police said.

According to authorities, Jamie Fraley was dating and living with Simonds' son, Ricky Dale Simonds Jr. He was not a suspect because he was in state prison when Fraley disappeared, police said.

Kim Fraley said her daughter was a student at Gaston College and planned a career as a drug counselor.

“She was very trusting – too trusting,” Fraley said. “I told her, ‘You can't save the world.' If someone needed a place to stay off drugs, she would let them in. She had the biggest heart. A heart of gold.”

Jamie Fraley's case was recently featured on the national TV show “America's Most Wanted.” The Kristen Foundation has placed a billboard with Fraley's photo and information about a $10,000 reward along Wilkinson Boulevard in Cramerton.

Mouy Tang

Quynh Tang teaches in an elementary school outside Orlando, Fla., and every Friday since early September, she has gotten in a car after class and traveled nine hours to Cleveland County, N.C.

Among the hills and woodlands, she searches for her sister-in-law, Mouy Tang, 46, who disappeared Sept. 3 from Unique Living, an adult day care home near Fallston. The state later shut down the troubled home.

A native of Cambodia, Tang has schizophrenia and requires insulin to control diabetes.

“We've done everything,” Quynh Tang said. “We've searched everywhere. I've walked every hill, every creek and everybody's backyard. Every weekend is so upsetting because we're back to square one.”

Jennifer Rivkin

The last time Hilda Ramsey saw her daughter, Jennifer Rivkin of Kings Mountain, was May 4, when Rivkin stopped by her mom's home in Bessemer City.

On May 6, police found the BMW Rivkin was driving in west Gastonia near The Winner's Circle Bar & Grill. Her purse was still inside the car.

On May 4, Ramsey recalled that her daughter – a hairdresser and songwriter who once lived in Nashville, Tenn. – kissed her and showed concern for her mom's well-being.

“I had no idea when she walked out the door I'd never see her again,” Ramsey said. “If I'd had any inkling, I would have asked her to stay with me. I can't get her out of my mind. When I go somewhere, anywhere, I look for her. We've had no word, no indication of anything. But we keep praying.”

Irina Yarmolenko

A graduate student at Duke University, Pavel Yarmolenko, 25, is dedicated to keeping the murder case before the public. He's still doing media interviews and has spoken to students at UNC Charlotte. He produced a Web site about his sister (www.irayarmolenko.com), organized a self-defense training class for women at Duke and wants to bring the class to Charlotte.

Also, Yarmolenko hopes in the near future to organize a Gaston County community forum about missing women.

The body of Irina “Ira” Yarmolenko, 20, was found in Mount Holly about 30 miles from UNC Charlotte, where she was a student. Police said she died of asphyxiation. They treated the case as a homicide.

Pavel Yarmolenko and other family members recently met with Mount Holly police. He said he thinks the department is doing “an incredible job with the investigation. I couldn't be more impressed.”

“We will find the killer,” Yarmolenko said, “and bring him to justice.”

Travis Baker, Wayne Conner

Catawba County authorities are still searching for Travis Baker of Millersville, missing since April 16, 2007.

Baker, then 20, missed a lunch appointment with his girlfriend in Catawba County and didn't report to work that evening.

His family has held benefits and placed billboard ads in hopes of getting information, but the efforts haven't produced any solid leads.

Baker's father, Dwayne Baker, said, “I hope that someone will call the authorities or the CUE Center (for Missing Persons) and end our nightmare. We are so worn out over all of this.”

Also in Catawba County, Wayne Conner has been missing for more than five years. Conner, a Claremont native, was 61 when he was last seen at the bar of the Boxcar Grille in his hometown.

Catawba County sheriff's investigators suspect foul play in both cases.

sarahhod

01-06-2009, 09:51 AM

No. 3 top story of 2008: Mysterious deaths and disappearances in Gaston County

http://www.gastongazette.com/news/yarmolenko_28790___article.html/county_fraley.html

December 31, 2008 - 11:04 PM

A seven-month manhunt for the killer of UNC Charlotte student Irina "Ira" Yarmolenko culminated with the arrest of two Gaston County men on Dec. 12.

Yarmolenko, 20, disappeared from Charlotte's University area in broad day light at 10:50 a.m. on May 5 and turned up dead two hours later on the banks of the Catawba River in Mount Holly.

Mount Holly resident Neal Cassada Jr. and Gastonia resident Mark Carver could soon stand trial on first-degree murder and conspiracy charges. But many questions are still unanswered, including why and how Yarmolenko was killed.

In 2008, Yarmolenko's case is one of a handful of mysterious deaths and disappearances in Gaston County awaiting closure.

New details in the killing of 31-year-old Lucy Johnson emerged in December. Johnson, a single mother with two children and a third child on the way, was found dead in the ashes of her home on July 16, but the fire didn't kill her. Someone shot her twice in the back of her head.

The primary person of interest in the disappearance of Jamie Fraley was found dead in his girlfriend's trunk June 8. Ricky Simonds Sr., who is the father of Fraley's boyfriend, was hiding in the trunk and died from excessive heat, according to police.

Fraley was last seen April 8 at her apartment on Lowell-Bethesda Road in Gastonia. Her cell phone was found two days after she went missing on New Hope Road, near where she lived.And no one has heard from Jennifer Rivkin since May 4, when she visited her parents' Bessemer City home. A friend's BMW that she was driving, along with her purse, was found May 6 in the Dixie Village parking lot in west Gastonia.

MrzEzell

01-15-2009, 12:40 PM

I'm just as hopeful there will be some news to help bring this girl home to her family. If there is anything I can do to help not sure if there are expenses needed to help w/ search efforts but I'm in AZ so not much I can do but would love to help please let me know.

sarahhod

02-22-2009, 01:11 PM

Family not giving up on missing woman

12:14 PM EST on Sunday, February 22, 2009

By RAD BERKY / NewsChannel 36
E-mail Rad: rberky@wcnc.com Video

February 22nd, 2009 Search continues for Jamie Fraley

GASTONIA, N.C.-- The family of a missing 22-year-old woman is not giving up hope that she's alive.
It's been almost one year since Jamie Fraley's disappearance.
NewsChannel 36 has learned there is going to be another search for Fraley next month by members of the Kristen Foundation, who will search areas that have not been searched before.
Jamie's family members and the foundation were at the checkers game Saturday night, handing out fliers with her picture.
The 22-year old vanished last year from her apartment in Lowell.

http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/stories/M_IMAGE.118eaf352b3.93.88.fa.d0.fe95d87c.jpg
Her purse and keys were found in her locked apartment and her cell phone was found a few days later not far from where she lived.
Police have searched a lake nearby and while no other trace of her was found, her mother is not giving up.
"You wake up every day and wonder if this is going to be the day. You just have to keep going and that is what I am doing," says Kim Fraley, Jamie’s mother.
That is a mother who is not giving up and determined to find her daughter. Again the new search for Jamie will be next month.

http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/stories/wcnc-022209-sjf-fraleyupdate.3f45350a.html

Video at Link:-

Faith

02-23-2009, 03:28 PM

A new search is planned for a missing 22-year-old from Lowell.

Jamie Fraley vanished nearly a year ago, but her family says it is not giving up hope. “I don't want my daughter to be forgotten,” says Jamie's mother, Kim Fraley. “You wake up every day and wonder if this is going to be the day. You just have to keep going, and that is what I am doing.”

Kim Fraley helped pass out posters of her missing daughter to the crowd at a Charlotte Checkers game Saturday night. She was joined by members of the Kristen Foundation, a group that helps try to locate missing persons.

The foundation plans to search again next month for Jamie, this time in areas that were not searched when she vanished April 9, 2008.

When Jamie disappeared, her purse and keys were found in her locked Lowell apartment. A few days later her cell phone was found on a road a couple of miles away.

Anyone with information should call the Gaston County Police Department at 704-866-3320.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/local/story/555214.html

sarahhod

02-27-2009, 06:02 AM

Missing Student Last Seen At Apartment Building
http://media.amw.com/multimedia/fileRepository/db/472/190/Fraley_content.jpg Jamie Fraley went missing from her apartment building in April 2008.

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Jamie Fraley went missing sometime after midnight on April 8, 2008 from her apartment building on Lowell Bethesda Rd. in Gastonia, N.C.
Cops say Jamie, a 22-year-old student at Gaston College, wasn’t feeling well the day she disappeared and went to the emergency room complaining of pain in her abdomen.
Jamie doesn’t have a driver’s license, so police say Jamie’s social service worker took her to the hospital around lunchtime and then brought her home.
Jamie was unhappy with the hospital’s diagnosis and thought she was suffering from something more serious, so she didn’t fill the prescription she was given, Sgt. Christie L. Rhoney of the Gaston County Police said.
Shortly after she returned home, Kim Sprenger came by Jamie’s apartment to pick up the dog that Jamie watched for her and took Jamie’s prescription to drop off at a Walgreen’s pharmacy, according to Rhoney.
Cops say Sprenger and Jamie met when Sprenger dated one of Jamie’s neighbors, Ricky Dale Simonds Sr., 49.
Jamie was dating Simonds Sr.’s son, Ricky Dale Simonds Jr., 31, at the time of her disappearance.
Between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., police say, Jamie decided she needed to go back to the emergency room and called Simonds Sr. to take her.
Cops say Simonds Sr. dropped her off at the emergency room and left, but when Jamie went inside she found that the wait time was around three to five hours, and she didn’t want to stay.
Jamie couldn’t get in touch with Simonds Sr. and called another neighbor who picked her up and took her home around midnight, according to police.
After she went inside her apartment, cops say Jamie made quite a few phone calls.
Police say phone records show that Jamie talked with her mom, Kim Fraley, and a friend who lives in the Albemarle, N.C. area.
Kim Fraley told police that Jamie called to say she was home safely from the hospital and mentioned that she needed someone to take her back to the emergency room.
Cops say that at the end of her conversation with her friend in Albemarle, N.C., Jamie may have said something like, “I think my ride is here. He’s here.”
The friend said she heard Jamie walking down the stairs outside her apartment.
Jamie’s cell phone records also show several calls to Simonds Sr., but police are unsure if the two actually spoke.
Simonds Sr. told police that he did speak with her and she asked to go back to the hospital, but he said he told her just to lie down and rest.
Cops say a utility worker found Jamie’s cell phoneon April 11, 2008 in the grass at the intersection of S. New Hope Rd. and E. Hudson Blvd. in Gastonia, N.C. a few miles from Jamie’s apartment building.
The neighbor who dropped Jamie off around midnight on April 8, 2008 was the last to see her, according to police.
Cops say several calls were made from Jamie’s phone around 4:30 a.m. on April 9, 2008, the night she disappeared. None of the calls actually connected and police say the numbers dialed were likely those in the phone’s list of recent calls.
The phone records also show that her phone received a call early in the morning on April 9, according to police.
Cops say when they received the phone it had been handled by too many people to provide valuable evidence.
Jamie is 4'9" tall and about 90 lbs., with blonde hair and blue eyes and cops say, so far, the search for her has turned up nothing.

Cops say he also served time in prison for strangling an ex-girlfriend to death.
Cops: Person Of Interest Found Dead
Simonds Sr. was a person of interest in Jamie’s case, but on June 8, 2008, Simonds Sr. was found dead in the trunk of Sprenger’s car.
Cops say Sprenger had a protective order to keep Simonds Sr. away, but Simonds Sr. may have climbed into the trunk on his own and died from overheating in the 90-degree weather.
Simonds Sr.’s criminal history includes fraud, larceny and several drug arrests, according to police. Cops say he also served time in prison for strangling an ex-girlfriend to death.
Simonds Jr. was in prison on larceny charges at the time of Jamie’s disappearance and is not considered a suspect, according to police.

http://www.amw.com/missing_persons/case.cfm?id=60357

sarahhod

04-08-2009, 10:16 AM

04/08/2009 07:26 AM

Wednesday marks 1 year since disappearance

By: News 14 Carolina Web Staff

http://images.news14.com/media/2009/4/8/images/018_fraley.jpg
Jamie Fraley, shown here in this undated photo, went missing a year ago Wednesday.

GASTONIA, N.C. – It has been one year, and there are still no signs of a missing Gastonia girl.Jamie Fraley, 22, vanished on April 8, 2008 from her apartment building in Gastonia. Divers searched a local lake for her body, and a special search team was brought in from Texas in October, but nothing was discovered.
Recently, the Kristen Foundation for Missing Adults handed out fliers at a Charlotte Checkers game in hopes of generating some leads.
Investigators say Fraley’s fiance’s father, Ricky Simonds Sr., was one of the last people to see her the day she disappeared. Simonds’ son and Fraley’s family thought the man knew something about the disappearance, but he died in June.

http://www.news14.com/content/local_news/charlotte/607475/wednesday-marks-1-year-since-disappearance/Default.aspx

sarahhod

04-08-2009, 10:17 AM

Remembering Jamie. Missing for 1 year.:1222423::1222423:

emmeblu

04-08-2009, 06:31 PM

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk151/butterflyssss/christprayrstxtdove.gif

Beautiful young girl. I know her family must be devastated not knowing what has happened to their daughter.

Thinking of Jamie today.

nanabillie

04-09-2009, 01:35 AM

:1222423:I'm sure they are too, Emme. Prayers for their strength.

sarahhod

04-09-2009, 07:17 AM

Family, Police Still Searching From Gaston County Woman 1 Year Later

Posted: 5:36 pm EDT April 8, 2009
Updated: 6:42 pm EDT April 8, 2009

GASTONIA, N.C. -- One year after a Gaston County woman disappeared, police still have no idea what may have happened to her.But Jamie Fraley’s family hasn’t given up hope. Her cousin and best friend, Erica Beaver, said she still believes she is with her.“I can not remember a time when she wasn't around,” she said. “I look at (her picture) every day and tell her I love her.”Thursday marks one year since Fraley’s family found the then 22-year-old’s home near Gastonia empty. Her cell phone was answered by someone who found it a mile away.“I never thought when I took that picture that I would be looking at it on a missing poster,” Beaver said.Fraley’s disappearance was mysterious, and it became an even bigger mystery when a person of interest in the case, Ricky Simonds Sr., was found dead in a car trunk in June.For a year, the clues to solve Fraley's case have escaped both police and her family.“I would give anything. I would give anything to know what happened,” Beaver said.Some of Fraley's pictures are in a cluster at the family's home, positioned next to a hope angel. Behind that angel is a poem about perseverance.“It's been a year, but we are not going to give up. Until I get answers, I'm not going to give up on my cousin,” Beaver said. “You just keep that hope. You don't ever give up. Giving up is not an option.”Gaston County police said it hasn't been an option for them, either.“This case has been the most extensively worked case in the history of the Gaston County Police Department,” said Sgt. Christie Rhony.Rhony said investigators have dived in a nearby lake, searched woods and followed leads as far as they could. But they still feel they are one tip from cracking this case.“Every single sliver of information is vital to us. It may produce for us that one thing that links everything together,” she said.She said no detail is too small.Call Crime Stoppers at 704-861-8000 if you have any information that could lead police to Fraley. They're offering a $6,000 reward.

Video at Link:-

Family, Police Still Searching From Gaston County Woman 1 Year Later (http://news.google.co.uk/news/url?sa=t&ct2=uk%2F0_0_s_10_0_t&usg=AFQjCNEf53BM3TTvIyfhbwAocX-ec0VQdg&cid=1329488206&ei=4dfdSZjrLcnNjAfW_p48&rt=SEARCH&vm=STANDARD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsoctv.com%2Fnews%2F19130942% 2Fdetail.html)

annalyzer

04-25-2009, 01:39 AM

Private search team helps in Gaston case

Charlotte foundation seeks clues about woman missing from Gastonia since last April.

Posted: Saturday, Apr. 25, 2009

A search team from South Carolina will use a boat, dogs and all-terrain vehicles in the hunt this weekend for a missing Gaston County woman.

Jamie Fraley, 22, vanished from her apartment on Lowell-Bethesda Road outside Gastonia on April 9, 2008.

Sponsored by the Charlotte-based Kristen Foundation, the Search Tactics and Rescue Recovery team will conduct the first private search for Fraley since her disappearance.

“I'd give anything to find her alive,” Kim Fraley said about her daughter. “But if that's not the case, I want to know one way or another. I've got to have closure. I can't go on like this.”

Joan Petruski, founder of the Kristen Foundation, a national nonprofit that crusades for relatives of missing adults, said the team of about 20 searchers would set up a command center at Ashbrook High School on New Hope Road in Gastonia around 8 a.m. today. The search will resume about the same time on Sunday.

“It's all about hope,” Petruski said. “We're hoping to find something – pieces of clothing, maybe remains.”

She said the searchers won't need any help, but contributions of water are welcome along with donations to the foundation.

Police have said earlier a “person of interest” in Jamie Fraley's disappearance was Ricky Dale Simonds Sr., 49, who lived in the same apartment complex. In early June 2008, Simonds' body was found in the trunk of his ex-girlfriend's car.

He had served prison time for killing a woman in the 1980s, police said.

According to authorities, Fraley was dating and living with Simonds' son, Ricky Dale Simonds Jr. He was not a suspect because he was in state prison when Fraley disappeared, police said.

Jamie Fraley's case has been featured on the national TV show “America's Most Wanted.” Last December, the Kristen Foundation placed a billboard along Wilkinson Boulevard in Cramerton with Fraley's photo and information about a $10,000 reward. According to Petruski, no leads have turned up.

Kim Fraley said her daughter was a student at Gaston College and planned a career as a drug counselor.

Looking back over the last year, she said, “Our lives have been turned upside down by this.

“My daughter deserves dignity and respect,” Fraley said. “It's in God's hands.”

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/local/story/685869.html

Link no longer works

annalyzer

04-25-2009, 09:54 AM

Crews Begin Search For Gastonia Woman

Posted: 7:46 am EDT April 25, 2009
Updated: 8:01 am EDT April 25, 2009

GASTONIA, N.C. -- A high-profile search and recovery team from South Carolina organized their search efforts at Ashbrook High School Saturday morning.

Our newspaper partner, The Gaston Gazette reports that Search Tactics and Rescue Recovery is bringing 18 volunteers equipped with all-terrain vehicles, trained search dogs and a boat to scour the land and water for Jamie.

The Charlotte-based Kristen Foundation is sponsoring the search and will pay for the group's travel, lodging and food.

Kim Fraley said finding proof that her daughter was killed would help bring closure to a family with a thousand unanswered questions.

The two-day search marks the first private search for Jamie Fraley since she was reported missing on April 9, 2008.

Her mother, Kim Fraley said she believes Jamie could still be alive but also said she acknowledged that searchers may find her daughter's remains.

Jamie was 22 years old when she disappeared from her Lowell-Bethesda Road apartment. She had complained of abdominal pain and made two trips to the emergency room at Gaston Memorial Hospital.

Her cell phone was found several miles from her apartment on April 11. Ricky Dale Simonds Sr. - the father of Jamie's then-boyfriend - was found dead in the trunk of his ex-girlfriend's car June 8. Police considered him a person of interest in Jamie's disappearance.

Fraley disappearance attracted national attention. Her picture and desription aired on a November 2008 episode of “America’s Most Wanted” and she was featured on their website.

"Nobody can prepare themselves for the worst," she said. "If they find anything and it turns out to be the worst, we'll go from there and we'll deal with it by the grace of God. My daughter deserves dignity."

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/19283397/detail.html

annalyzer

04-26-2009, 01:51 AM

Private search team continues combing Gaston County for remains of Jamie Fraley

April 25, 2009 - 9:14 PM

If her daughter's remains are hidden in the high grass or sunken in a murky pond, Kim Fraley is confident that a South Carolina search team will find them.

South Carolina-based Search Tactics and Rescue/Recovery today continues its search for Jamie Michelle Fraley, who has been missing since April 8, 2008. STARR began examining select areas in Gaston County with search dogs, all-terrain vehicles and boats equipped with side-scan sonar units Saturday morning.

"It's going really well," Kim Fraley said Saturday. "They're very professional and they know what they're doing. I've got a lot of faith in them; they seem like they've really got it together."

A team of 16 volunteer search specialists conducted the search from a command center at Ashbrook High School. Crime scene officers from the Gaston County Police Department, which is investigating Jamie's disappearance, were on hand in case the private search team turned up any possible evidence.

STARR founder and director Steve Pearrow said the searchers are looking for bones, teeth, hair and any jewelry Jamie may have been wearing when she disappeared. However, no evidence has been found to date suggesting the 22-year-old woman was killed.

"What really bothers me about this case is that I think somebody knows something," Pearrow said. "It looks like a situation where nobody is willing to talk or willing to help."

Searches are often tense for families of those reported missing because many continue to hope their loved one is still alive, Pearrow said.

"They're hoping for us to find something and yet hoping that we don't at the same time, I think," he said.

The team combed woods and water in several spots recommended by Gaston County Police. Sites included the woods around the spot where Jamie's cell phone was found and an area where police found a trash bag belonging to Ricky Dale Simonds Sr., a person of interest in the disappearance.

Simonds is the father of Jamie's then-boyfriend, and police say he took her to Gaston Memorial Hospital's emergency room the night of her disappearance. He was found dead in the trunk of his ex-girlfriend's car on June 8.

Even if STARR leaves the search sites empty-handed, Pearrow said the group will have eliminated possible locations.

"A successful mission is not always actually going out there and making a recovery," he said. "A successful mission is going out there and being able to clear all the areas so you can go home, lay your head down and say you're pretty sure she's not there."

A South Carolina state trooper, Pearrow began building the search team in 1997 to help Palmetto State law enforcement agencies find the bodies of those reported missing. STARR has grown in size and has participated in high-profile search and recovery efforts, including searches in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

STARR is based in Swansea, S.C., about 20 miles south of Columbia. To learn about the group or make a donation, visit www.starrteam.com.

http://www.gastongazette.com/news/search_33138___article.html/fraley_team.html

nanabillie

04-30-2009, 04:02 AM

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/breaking/story/688255.html
Recovery team renews search for woman

By DIANA RUGG / NewsChannel 36
DRugg@wcnc.com
Posted: Sunday, Apr. 26, 2009
GASTONIA, N.C.-- A South Carolina-based search team is combing parts of Gaston County this weekend for a woman who’s been missing more than a year.
Jamie Fraley was 22 when she disappeared from her apartment on Lowell-Bethesda Road on April 8, 2008. Fraley’s mother says her purse and keys were found inside her locked apartment, and her cell phone turned up on the side of the road a few days later. Other than the phone, no trace of Fraley has been found.
In the year since Fraley’s disappearance, divers have searched a nearby lake and woods, and Kim Fraley has passed out flyers with Jamie’s picture at a Checkers hockey game.
A man police considered a person of interest in the case died last June, cutting off potential leads.
"I thought maybe he might have had some answers,” said Fraley’s mother, Kim, “and then if he did, those answers went to the grave with him."
To help, the Kristen Foundation for Missing Adults brought in the STARR team – which stands for Search Tactics and Rescue/Recovery. The 18-person team used K-9’s to scour the woods near Jamie’s apartment, and sonar-equipped boats to search the Catawba River.
"It's important to knock out the areas where we know that she's not,” said Joan Petruski of the Kristen Foundation, “and so we continue working the areas that haven't been investigated yet."
Petruski said the Kristen Foundation tries to keep parents’ hopes up so they never give up trying to find their grown children.
Searches like this help, said Kim Fraley, even if they confirm her worst fears.
"I just have to answers one way or another,” said Fraley. “It's not knowing that drives you crazy."

MrzEzell

06-11-2009, 01:52 PM

I continue to pray for Jamie and her family. It's truly sad to know she has still not been found. However regardless of the outcome I just want the family know that they are not alone and that there are people who care and are always keeping them in their prayers.

Faith

06-23-2009, 02:35 PM

Prosecutors argue in writing against Dillard’s request for new trial/acquittal

POSTED: June 23, 2009

=LISBON - Prosecutors argued in writing against Eric Dillard's request for a new trial or acquittal for murder Monday, questioning the credibility of a claim that someone tossed a bag into Highlandtown Lake containing the victim's gun.

They also questioned the credibility of David R. Crowe Jr., the man making the claim, making note of his lengthy criminal record and the fact that he was in jail with Dillard after the jury trial ended.

He's also never fished a day in his life, his ex-wife said.

In an affidavit submitted with the defense motion for a new trial, Crowe claimed he was fishing with a friend in late April 2008 when he saw a woman drop a bag into the water. He identified the woman as Andrea Hackney, the mother of Shirley Jo Hackney, who was murder victim Jamie Farley's girlfriend at the time of the shooting.

They were both in the car waiting for Farley when he was shot outside Dillard's Wellsville residence on April 22, 2008. Hackney denied that she dumped anything in the lake, according to prosecutors.

In a response filed Monday in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court, county Prosecutor Robert Herron and county Chief Assistant Prosecutor John Gamble wrote that the claimed new evidence doesn't merit a new trial.

"The claimed evidence is self-serving, speculative and excessively convenient to say the least," the response said.

They wrote the testimony wouldn't have changed the outcome of the trial and the allegation didn't help Dillard's self-defense claim. Gamble and Herron pointed out the "defendant's own testimony failed to place a gun or other weapon on the victim at the time of the shooting. In fact, the defense presented no testimony that the victim was armed or, more importantly, that the defendant knew he was armed."

Judge C. Ashley Pike already granted a defense motion for funds to hire an investigator or divers to search the lake, although a hearing isn't set until next Monday for the new trial motion. Dillard, 31, was supposed to face sentencing that day, but the sentencing has been postponed.

He was found guilty last month of murder, a gun specification and having weapons under disability in the shooting death of Farley, a 35-year-old East Liverpool resident, and could face 18 years to life in prison.

Dillard claimed self-defense, testifying that he knew Farley carried a gun and was threatening to kill him. He said Farley approached him with his hand behind his back, but the only gun Wellsville police officers found was the one used by Dillard.

Besides the affidavit from Crowe, defense attorneys included an affidavit from Cagney Allen Springer, who claimed he saw a woman carrying a diaper bag at the scene where Farley fell out of the car, and an anonymous handwritten note from someone claiming they heard Farley's gun was in the diaper bag. They alluded that Andrea Hackney was the one carrying the diaper bag.

The prosecution disputed all the claims, noting that Springer was also in jail with Dillard after the jury reached its verdict. He was serving time for telephone harassment while Crowe was serving time for criminal damaging and endangering. The response said Springer couldn't positively identify the woman holding the diaper bag and his claim conflicted with testimony at trial concerning Hackney and the alleged diaper bag.

As for the anonymous note, they called it hearsay, which isn't permitted at trial.

The prosecution attached affidavits from jail personnel about Crowe's propensity for disrespecting authority, his ex-wife about his fishing claim, her current husband who was attacked by Crowe with a carjack handle, a wildlife officer who noted Crowe had no fishing license and law enforcement personnel who outlined his record of breaking the law, including Saline Township Police Chief Kenneth Hayes of Jefferson County who said "Crowe is not a truthful person and has a tendency toward exaggeration."

"I think it speaks for itself," Herron said when asked for comment about the response, which also included arguments against claims of prosecutorial misconduct and abuse of discretion by Pike throughout the proceedings.

The defense made claims that the prosecution intimidated witnesses and the defendant, disseminated privileged information and didn't provide proper discovery of evidence and witnesses.

The prosecution argued the claims had no merit, one by one explaining why they failed and why the defendant's request should be denied.

"The guilty verdict reached by an extraordinarily attentive, conscientious and deliberative jury was supported by significant and sufficient evidence," the response said.

http://www.salemnews.net/page/content.detail/id/514959.html

Faith

06-23-2009, 02:41 PM

The prosecutor said the car had been searched on the night of the murder.

LISBON — The mother of the girlfriend of murder victim Jamie Farley threw a white “dollar store” type bag into Highlandtown Lake several days after his death.

Lawyers for Eric M. Dillard, 31, Commerce Street, Wellsville, said that’s one reason to give Dillard a new trial.

Dillard was to be sentenced at 10 a.m. June 29 for his conviction on a murder charge in Farley’s shooting.

Instead, his lawyers will be arguing for a new trial.

Dillard shot Farley twice with a .40-caliber pistol about 10 p.m. April 22, 2008 at Dillard’s Wellsville home. Dillard was not legally allowed to have a gun because of a prior felony drug conviction.

The two men were partners in a clothing business but Farley, 35, was concerned over the poor financial return.

Dillard had demonstrated during the trial that Farley was crouched over with his right arm hidden from sight. He testified his gun went off twice.

Farley fled to the Cavalier driven by his girlfriend, Shirley Hackney, Also in the car was Hackney’s mother, Andrea; Hackney’s 9-year-old son, Caleb Hackney; and Andee, Hackney’s 15-month old daughter.

Shirley Hackney tried to drive away, but Farley had not closed the front passenger door. He fell out of the car and onto the street. He told authorities at the scene who shot him before he was taken to East Liverpool City Hospital, where he died.

Police searched the area and storm drains, but no weapon beside Dillard’s was found.

David R. Crowe Jr., said in an affidavit filed in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court that he has known Shirley and Andrea Hackney all his life.

Crowe’s statement said that the way Andrea Hackney was carrying the bag, it “had some weight to it.” The motion said that Crowe “finds it reasonable that the bag contained a firearm or some similar type of item.”

County Prosecutor Robert Herron said that the Cavalier was searched by authorities and no weapon was found.

The defense has a statement from a woman who said Andrea Hackman had a blue diaper bag after the shooting. The defense also has an anonymous letter mailed from Youngstown that said “Farley’s gun was in the diaper bag.”

Herron said that anonymous evidence is not admissible in court.

The defense contends that the prosecutor’s office staff was guilty of misconduct and Judge C. Ashley Pike bowed to public criticism and became complicit with the prosecutor’s office misconduct in not releasing information on time that would have helped Dillard’s case.

wilkinson@vindy.com

http://www.vindy.com/news/2009/jun/05/defense-to-argue-for-a-new-trial/?newswatch

Faith

06-23-2009, 02:48 PM

The Kristen Foundation for missing adults is hosting a remembrance ceremony at Frazier Park tonight for people who have disappeared.

June 23, 2009

The foundation will lay memorial bricks for missing people who've made national headlines in recent months – Natalee Holloway, a teenager who disappeared in Aruba in May 2005 while on a graduation trip; Jamie Fraley, a 22-year-old from Gaston County missing since April 2008, and Carla Vicentini, a 26-year-old missing from New Jersey since 2006, according to Joan Petruski, who started the foundation.

The candlelight ceremony will also include a tribute to Nikki McPhatter, who was missing for weeks before her burned body was located in South Carolina. The Kristen Foundation offered a reward for information about McPhatter's disappearance shortly before her body was found.

Petruski started The Kristen Foundation in 1999 after Kristen Modafferi, a Charlotte woman who disappeared a decade ago while working and studying in San Francisco. The organization raises money to help families pay for the costs of searching for missing adults. -- Cleve R. Wootson Jr.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/breaking/story/795005.html

Grande

11-18-2009, 12:56 PM

The following is a list of female Gastonia, NC residents that have either gone missing or were located deceased as a result of foul play;

Kenesha Sanders, 15 [FOUND SAFE]
http://helpfindthemissing.org/forum/showthread.php?p=692007#post692007

Randi Saldana, 30
http://helpfindthemissing.org/forum/showthread.php?t=18352&highlight=gastonia

Heather Marie Catterton, 17
http://helpfindthemissing.org/forum/showthread.php?t=17947&highlight=gastonia

Jennifer Rivkin, 42
http://helpfindthemissing.org/forum/showthread.php?t=5261&highlight=gastonia

Jamie Fraley, 22
http://helpfindthemissing.org/forum/showthread.php?t=4518&highlight=gastonia

Rebecca Michelle Mainess, 16
http://helpfindthemissing.org/forum/showthread.php?t=8935&highlight=gastonia

Nataly Leyba Zapata, 16
http://helpfindthemissing.org/forum/showthread.php?t=8934&highlight=gastonia

Nut44x4

02-18-2010, 08:07 PM

Billboard seeks information on missing Gastonia woman
2/18/10

GASTONIA, N.C. -- A Gastonia family hopes a new billboard will point the way to their missing loved one.

Kim Fraley stood on the side of Interstate 85 Thursday, looking up at a massive billboard, bearing her missing daughter's image. There is a $5,000 reward offered and Fraley hopes this will lead police to her daughter, Jamie.

"As a mother I can't give up, I have to keep going," Kim Fraley said.

Jamie Fraley was 22 years old when she disappeared on April 8, 2008.

"The only thing they found was her cell phone," said her mother.

A person who police called a "person of interest" in the case died in June 2008.

The billboard was posted Monday. It is funded by the Kristen Foundation, which is based out of Charlotte and tries to help locate missing people. The foundation posted a smaller paper sign last year on a street in Gastonia, but it didn't garner many leads.

The new sign faces drivers heading south on Interstate 85. Kim Fraley said she prays that this sign will bring results.

"I'm hoping that even after two years it might click in someone's head," she said. "Even though it's been so long, they might say, 'Hey, I remember that.'"

Anyone with information on Jamie Fraley should call Gaston County Police at 704-866-3320.

For more information on the Kristen Foundation, visit www.kristenfoundation.org.

http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/New-billboard-seeks-information-on-missing-Gastonia-woman-84736502.html