On a summer morning, 78-year-old Jaxie Bernadette Jamerson disappeared from the Briar Bottom group camping area in Mount Mitchell State Park, North Carolina. A resident of Madison County, she was on a church outing with the Beech Glen Baptist Church for the Independence Day weekend. At the time of her disappearance on July 3, 1994, Jaxie was experiencing short-term memory loss. The night before she vanished, she had gone to sleep in her Isuzu Trooper at the Dogwood campsite.
Early the next morning, at approximately 6:00 a.m., she was seen getting out of her vehicle. Shortly after, another witness saw her carrying a black purse and a yellow flashlight, and she appeared to be disoriented.
Jaxie was a very active and dedicated member of her church, for which she had served as the secretary, treasurer, and clerk for nearly five decades. She had even written the official history of the Beech Glen Baptist Church. In the moments leading up to her disappearance, she was wearing a navy blue polyester jacket and gray-brown polyester pants. After she was reported missing, an extensive search of the rugged terrain surrounding the state park was launched, but no trace of her was found. The search for Jaxie was immediate and thorough, yet the vast wilderness yielded no clues as to her whereabouts.
Nearly four years after she vanished, in May of 1998, a potential clue surfaced when a tourist discovered an upper denture plate and a small piece of navy blue fabric on the banks of the South Toe River. These items were found near a cabin the tourist was renting. The fabric was consistent with the navy blue polyester jacket Jaxie was wearing when she disappeared, and the denture plate was consistent with the type of work done by her late dentist. However, authorities were unable to definitively link either item to her. The lack of concrete evidence left investigators with more questions than answers, and the discovery did not lead to a breakthrough in the case. The Yancey County Sheriff's Department continues to keep her case open. The disappearance of Jaxie Bernadette Jamerson remains an unsolved mystery, a quiet vanishing from a place of natural beauty that has held its secrets for decades.Last Seen: Jul 3, 1994
