Bobby Jamison was worried about spirits. Not the metaphoric kind, but the heavy, oppressive sort that he believed lived in the floorboards of his Oklahoma home. By the fall of 2009, he and his wife, Sherilynn, were looking for a fresh start. They wanted peace. They wanted a plot of land where they could raise their six-year-old daughter, Madyson, away from the perceived "gray mist" and bad energy of Eufaula. On October 8, they loaded up their white pickup truck and drove into the Sans Bois Mountains to look at a 40-acre property near Red Oak.
They never came back down.
When their truck was found abandoned on a remote mountain road a few days later, it kicked off one of the most baffling cold cases in American history. The Jamison family disappearance isn't just a story about a family getting lost in the woods. It is a messy, deeply unsettling puzzle involving 20-page "hate" letters, security footage of "trance-like" behavior, and a dog left to starve in a locked vehicle. Most people think they know this case because they saw a 10-minute YouTube video on it, but the reality is way more complicated and much sadder than the internet theories suggest.
The truck on the mountain side
Think about this for a second. You find a truck. Inside, there is $32,000 in cash tucked under the seat. There are cell phones, GPS units, and the family’s IDs. Most importantly, there is the family’s dog, Maisy, barely alive and severely malnourished.
The Jamisons were gone.
Everything they needed to survive—or even just to buy a meal—was left behind. This is the first major red flag that investigators, led by former Latimer County Sheriff Israel Beauchamp, had to grapple with. If they were running away, why leave the money? If they were kidnapped, why leave the dog and the truck in plain sight? It just didn't add up. The initial search was massive. We're talking hundreds of volunteers, horses, drones, and cadaver dogs scouring the rugged terrain. They found nothing. For four years, the mountains stayed silent until November 2013, when hunters stumbled across skeletal remains about three miles from where the truck had been parked.
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The bodies were face down. They were lined up side-by-side.
Because of the extreme decomposition, the medical examiner couldn't determine a cause of death. This lack of a "smoking gun" is exactly why the internet has spent the last decade arguing over whether this was a murder-suicide, a drug deal gone wrong, or something far more "supernatural."
The video that changed everything
Before they left for the mountains, the Jamisons had a security system at their house. When police watched the footage from the morning of the disappearance, they didn't see a happy family preparing for a hike. They saw something haunting.
Bobby and Sherilynn were filmed walking back and forth from the house to the truck in a robotic, repetitive motion. They did this about 20 times. Sometimes they wouldn't even be carrying anything. They didn't speak to each other. They looked, frankly, like they were in a trance.
Honestly, this footage is where the "methamphetamine theory" gained a lot of traction. Investigators and family members, including Bobby's mother, Connie Jamison, have openly discussed the possibility of drug use. The erratic behavior, the weight loss, and the paranoia—Bobby had complained to his pastor about the house being haunted and even asked about "special bullets" to kill spirits—all point toward a mental break or substance-induced psychosis. But here's the catch: police searched that truck and the Jamison home top to bottom. No drugs. No paraphernalia. Just that $32,000 in cash.
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The "Hate Letter" and the cult theory
Sherilynn Jamison was a woman in pain. Friends described her as having a "big heart," but she was struggling. In the truck, police found an 11-page (some reports say up to 20 pages) letter she had written to Bobby. It wasn't a love letter. It was a scathing, rambling document detailing her resentment and calling him a "loner" and a "hermit."
Then there was the "cult" angle.
The Jamisons had recently been involved in a dispute with a handyman who lived with them. Sherilynn had allegedly threatened him with a gun, claiming he was part of a white supremacist group. While that specific lead didn't result in arrests related to the disappearance, it highlights the level of chaos and fear the family was living in. They felt hunted. Whether that threat was real or a product of their declining mental health is the central question of the Jamison family disappearance.
Hard truths and the likely reality
When you strip away the ghost stories and the "satanic bible" rumors (which were mostly debunked or exaggerated), you're left with a few grim possibilities.
- The Murder-Suicide: Many investigators lean this way. The positioning of the bodies—lined up—suggests an intentional act. Sherilynn owned a .22 caliber pistol that was missing from the truck. If one parent killed the other and the child before turning the gun on themselves, it would explain the lack of a struggle at the vehicle. However, the gun was never found at the scene.
- Exposure: The Sans Bois mountains are brutal. If the family walked away from the truck in a state of confusion or paranoia, they could have easily succumbed to hypothermia or dehydration. But three people dying at the exact same time in a neat row? That’s a hard pill to swallow.
- Third-Party Interference: This area was known for illegal labs. If the Jamisons stumbled onto a drug operation, things could have turned violent quickly. But again, why leave $32,000 behind? Most criminals would have taken the cash and the truck.
Sheriff Beauchamp eventually resigned, frustrated by the lack of answers. He once told reporters that the case was "unbelievable" and that "every time we'd get a lead, it would lead to nothing." It’s a sentiment shared by everyone who has looked at the files.
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What we can learn from the Jamison tragedy
The Jamison family disappearance serves as a harrowing reminder of how quickly a family can spiral when mental health issues, isolation, and paranoia intersect. It’s easy to get lost in the "creepy" details, but at the heart of this is a six-year-old girl, Madyson, who was caught in the middle of her parents' crumbling world.
If you are looking for a resolution, you probably won't find a clean one. The case is technically open, but the trail is freezing cold. The most actionable thing anyone can do is look at the forensic evidence that does exist. The medical examiner noted a "small hole" in Bobby's skull that some thought was a bullet wound, but it was ultimately ruled inconclusive due to animal scavenging and decay.
For those following this case, the best resources aren't the Reddit threads, but the actual investigative reports from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI). They remind us that while the "supernatural" makes for a good story, the human element—grief, illness, and fear—is usually where the truth hides.
Next steps for those researching this case:
- Review the OSBI public records: Focus on the timeline of the "trance-like" video vs. the time of departure to understand the family's mental state.
- Analyze the location: Map the distance between the truck's location and where the bodies were found. The terrain is a steep, 45-degree incline in some parts, which makes the "accidental walk" theory less plausible for a six-year-old.
- Differentiate fact from folklore: Discard the claims of "Satanic worship" which were largely fueled by Sherilynn owning a book about witchcraft; focus instead on the documented history of domestic 911 calls from the residence.