On December 15, 2021, 55-year-old Kimberley Jean Bunton was last seen in Rolla, Missouri. That day, she had been released from the Pulaski County Jail, and a detective with the Rolla Police Department dropped her off at a McDonald's restaurant on Kings Highway. Bunton, who went by the nickname Sassy, was not permitted to stay with her family but assured her mother she would seek housing through a drug rehabilitation program. Instead of contacting the program, she called a friend, Edward D.
Jones, who picked her up from a gas station. Her family never heard from her again, which was uncharacteristic, especially over the holidays, despite her history of substance abuse. They officially reported her missing on January 6, 2022. At the time of her disappearance, Kimberley was described as a white female, 4'11' tall and weighing 140 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing a white and black horizontally striped long-sleeved blouse with a low-cut front, white leggings, and dark-colored sandals.
The investigation into Kimberley's disappearance led authorities to her friend, Edward D. Jones. When initially contacted by both Bunton's mother and the police, Jones claimed that she had stayed with him in Rolla on the night she went missing but left the following day without a word. However, the investigation later uncovered a much darker series of events. It was revealed that Bunton had died of a fentanyl overdose on December 15, the same day she was released from jail. According to subsequent confessions from men involved, her body was then transported to the St. Louis area and disposed of in a dumpster. Cellular phone records corroborated this, showing that Jones's and another individual's phones traveled to St. Louis and returned to Rolla on the day of her death.
Tragically, the search for Kimberley's remains has been unsuccessful. One of the men involved in disposing of her body, Allen, traveled with a detective to St. Louis in May 2022 to locate the dumpster, but he could not remember the exact location, and searches in the cities of Berkeley, Ferguson, and Kinloch yielded no results. The primary person of interest, Edward D. Jones, died from a fentanyl overdose in April 2022, less than a month after being released from jail on bond, further complicating the case. The other men involved were not charged in connection with Bunton's death and the disposal of her body. With no remains found, Kimberley's family held a celebration of life and a balloon release in her memory on what would have been her 56th birthday, August 26, 2022. The case remains a painful and unresolved tragedy, highlighting the devastating impact of substance abuse. Although it is believed she died of an overdose and her body was disposed of, without the recovery of her remains, her official status is still a missing person, leaving her family without the closure of a proper burial.Last Seen: Dec 16, 2021
