Voicy Philpot's son, Judson Fielding, disappeared in 1994.Kathy Moore/Staff

Families still search for missing relatives

Web posted August 18, 1997

 Still missing

By Alisa DeMao
Staff Writer

Almost a dozen years later, the need to know Jeremy's fate still goads his family.

Jeremy Grice was a sweetfaced blond 4-year-old when he disappeared, seemingly into thin air, as he waited in front of his Bath home for the school bus in November 1985. Today, he would be 16 - almost a man, old enough to drive, probably shaving.

But instead of worrying about curfews, girlfriends or their son's driving record, Jeremy's family has endured two fruitless searches of Langley Pond in the past two years, after a psychic told them the boy's body could be found there.

Jeremy is one of five open missing-person cases on file with the Aiken County Sheriff's Department, and the oldest case on record in the area. The Aiken Department has an open file on another child, Tiwana Denise Cheatham, who disappeared from Aiken in August 1989, when she was 8.

Tiwana would be 17 years old in December.

``The problem with old cases is that, over time, people's recollection of things change,'' said Maj. Jody Rowland of the Aiken County Sheriff's Department through a department spokesman. ``You have to deal with the quality of people's memories.

``But there is a desire to try to clear these cases. These people are gone, and somebody cared about them. You want to do all you can to help.''

Most missing person cases in Aiken County are solved within 24 hours, as are the majority of cases in Columbia County, officials said. But with no leads, the trail inevitable grows colder on some.

It's been more than 10 years since Becky Anne Minish of Evans disappeared on St. Patrick's Day in 1987. The 19-year-old woman left a friend's house, saying she would be back shortly, but she never returned.

Her car was found a few days later on Bobby Jones Expressway at the Wrightsboro Road exit in Richmond County, said Maj. Mike Tomberlin of the Columbia County Sheriff's Department. The door had been pried open, a tire was flat and the steering column had been smashed, newspaper reports said.

``We never had any leads that panned out,'' Maj. Tomberlin said.

Miss Minish's case is the only long-term disappearance on file in Columbia County. Other Aiken County missing-person cases include:

Donna Shareen Wright, a 17year-old black woman who disappeared from her Beech Island home in June 1989. She was last seen by a family member and said she was walking to the store to buy a gift. She was wearing a white shirt, blue jeans and a gold necklace. She stood 5 feet, 7 inches tall, weighed 120 pounds and had brown eyes and black hair. She would be 25 years old now.

Paul Joseph Gregory, a 33year-old white man reported missing after his parents came to visit from New York in May 1992 and found him vanished from his Aiken apartment. Mr. Gregory's keys were locked in his car, and his wallet was left at his home. He stood 6 feet, 2 inches, weighed 225 pounds and had brown eyes and curly brown hair. He was last seen wearing a white knit shirt, blue jeans and white tennis shoes. He would be 38 years old.

Glenwood McKie, a 32-year-old black man who disappeared in November 1992 en route to an auto auction. His van was discovered abandoned in Augusta two weeks later. Mr. McKie was 6 feet tall, weighed 200 pounds, had brown eyes and black hair and a scar under his left eye. He was last seen wearing jeans, a long-sleeved white shirt and white Nikes. He would be 39 years old.

Anyone with information about a missing person from Aiken County can contact the Sheriff's Office at (803) 642-1761.

Anyone with information about a missing person from Columbia County can contact the Sheriff's Office at 541-1044.