Jeffrey L. Timmons, [FOUND DECEASED/BURIED AFTER 11 YRS] Barksdale AFB

[The Kitchen Guy]

Car of McCutcheon grad, missing for 10 years, found in river near air base

By THE SHREVEPORT (La.) TIMES
Link: Lafyette, IN Journal & Courier Nov 21, 2007

BOSSIER CITY, La. - The Bossier City Fire Department's Water Search and Rescue Unit recovered a car in Red River on Tuesday that is registered to an airman who went absent without leave from the Air Force 10 years ago.

The car is that of Jeffery L. Timmons, who was 28 when he went AWOL from Barksdale Air Force Base, according to Bossier City spokesman Mark Natale. The staff sergeant with the 2nd Mission Support Squadron Education Office last was seen locally Jan. 10, 1997.

Portrait:

Timmons, a McCutcheon High School graduate, was originally from the Stockwell area.

The divers were training with sonar equipment Monday near the Arthur Ray Teague Parkway boat launch when they found what they thought was a car, Natale said. It was about 25 feet from the bank in about 13 feet of water.

The car was pulled from the river using heavy-duty wrecker. The 1993 Nissan Sentra had an Indiana license plate registered to Timmons, who would be 38 now.

No human remains or other evidence indicating foul play were found in the car, Natale said. Police don't know how long the car had been in the river.

Bossier City police have notified investigative authorities at Barksdale Air Force Base about the recovered car.

Ten years ago, Barksdale investigators appeared to have no leads into Timmons' disappearance.

[The Kitchen Guy]

Bossier City Police: Recovered Jeep belongs to missing man
December 6, 2007
By John Andrew Prime
jprime@gannett.com

Link: The Shreveport Times

Bossier City police have confirmed a truck recovered by divers this afternoon from the Red River is that of a man missing since 2003.

A release from Bossier City spokesman Mark Natala said the truck belonged to then-19-year-old Shreveporter Christopher Pierce. He was last seen May 19, 2003, leaving work at Taco Bell in the 4100 block of Barksdale Boulevard. Pierce was driving a red 1988 Jeep pickup truck with Louisiana license plate W031965. That was the truck and license found in the river.

The 2002 Parkway High graduate was described as a 6-foot-tall, 275-pound white male with green eyes and brown hair.

The mud-covered Jeep broke the surface of the river just after 3:40 p.m., after a little more than three hours of efforts by divers and tow operators. The truck was located at around 12:45 p.m. about 100 feet off the north ramp of the boat launch on Arthur Ray Teague Parkway, in water about 18 feet deep.

Divers first located the Jeep on sonar when they returned to the river Wednesday at the request of the Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations, Natale said. That followed on the Nov. 20 discovery, a spot just yards south of today's recovery, of a 1993 Nissan Sentra registered to Jeffrey L. Timmons. The then-Barksdale Air Force Base sergeant has not been seen since being classified as absent without leave more than 10 years ago.

“The Fire Department was out here (Wednesday) ... to do another search in the area where the missing airman’s car was found,” Natale said. “They did not find anything there, but they got a hit on a vehicle at this spot.”

Natale said police think there is no connection between the two vehicles.

“There are probably a lot of objects in the river,” Natale said .

The Bossier sheriff’s office also had a boat in the river to keep any passing boaters from interfering with the divers.

[Audie]

I'm not sure how they can say they are not connected. IMO, it is possible and maybe even probable.

I wonder if someone should start a separate thread for Christopher or just revise the title of this thread.

[hinman]

I do not understand the article. What two vehicles? Are they talking about they got a hit on another vehicle in the same spot his was found?

[The Kitchen Guy]

Please see this thread, about Christopher Pierce.

After Timmons' car was found in the river, the MP's at the air base asked the police to go back to river to look for more clues. They found Pierce's car less than 100 yards away from Timmons' car.

It just all seems too coincidental to me, although police say the two cases are not related.

[Nut44x4]

I came across this today while looking for something else........

Apparently they found his body???

Obituaries
Jeffrey L. Timmons
STOCKWELL — Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Lee “Jeff” Timmons, who was 28 years old when he went missing Jan. 11, 1997, was found in the Red River in Bossier City, La., on Nov. 20, 2007. At the time of his death he was based at Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City.

http://www.jconline.com/apps/pbcs.dl...031/-1/ARCHIVE

[Nut44x4]

By Brian Wallheimer • bwallheimer@journalandcourier.com • April 29, 2008

A decade later, missing airman to be buried

More than 11 years after he and his car went missing in Louisiana, Jeffrey Timmons will be laid to rest this weekend.

Timmons grew up in Stockwell, attending McCutcheon High School. He joined the Air Force and was stationed in Louisiana when he went missing in January 1997.

He was last believed to be heading to a riverboat casino late at night. In November, his vehicle and remains were found in a Louisiana river, where they had been for more than a decade.

Timmons had been considered absent without leave, in other words a deserter, and his children were not awarded his benefits. Family members, who were in contact with military authorities for years about continuing the search for Timmons, have secured Timmons' military benefit for his children, who live with their mother in Chalmers.

"He didn't just leave us," said Debbie Luper, Jeffrey Timmons' sister, who lives in Rossville. "That's important for the kids."

A scholarship fund for the children has been established and donations can be dropped off at the Soller-Baker Funeral Home in Lafayette.

Luper said military investigators determined Timmons died the night he went missing. A cause of death is likely to never be found.

"All we can do is assume it was an accident and move on from there," Luper said.

Luper added that she and other family members wanted to thank everyone for all their prayers and support over the years.

Adam Ensinger of Stockwell, a childhood friend of Jeffrey Timmons, said he still has questions about how his friend died, but he was glad to see his belief that Timmons didn't abandon the Air Force, his family and his friends was proven true.

"It finally brings closure to his disappearance," Ensinger said. "At least I know he's coming back home."

Calling hours will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday at Soller-Baker Funeral Home in Lafayette. The funeral will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Stockwell United Methodist Church, with burial at the Yorktown Cemetery in Stockwell.

Timmons will be given full military honors.

http://beta.jconline.com/apps/pbcs.d...342/-1/ARCHIVE

[Roamer]

[packy]

I thought at first when they found the car they did not find human remains. Maybe they were not apparent at first. Now he has been found and can be laid to rest properly.

My condolences to his family.

[KittyMom]

WOW...sounds like the divers need to continue to search the water. There may be others down there.