Escaped Tenn. inmate spotted in SC believed to have been driving missing man’s car

GREENVILLE, S.C. (WSPA) – Investigators are looking into a link between a missing man and an escaped inmate out of Tennessee.

It’s been almost two weeks since 61-year-old Victor Birchfield went missing in Tennessee. His car and his valuables have been spotted in South Carolina, but his family said they just want to find him.

“I just want to bring him home,” Birchfield’s daughter, Tiffany Cole, said.

Cole is begging for help to find her father.

Birchfield, who Cole called “sharp as a tack,” is 61-years-old, with gray hair and hazel eyes. He iss 5’6″ and weighs 170 pounds.

“We have video footage of him leaving the airport at 6:53 a.m. on Thursday the 20th,” Cole said.

Cole said her dad left his job at the Elizabethton Airport and was seen getting into his car alone.

It was the last time her father was seen, wearing an orange or red shirt and gray basketball shorts.

Friday morning, after not hearing from him, she said she began to panic.

“The sheriff’s department was able to tell me Friday night that they pinged the car’s location in Boone, North Carolina and in Clemson,” Cole said.

On Saturday, Cole said the bank confirmed two charges on her father’s card, one in Asheville and one at the Tiger Mart in Clemson.

Cole said, at the time, they didn’t know about the escaped inmate from their area, Billy Fletcher.

She believes Fletcher has her dad and his belongings.

Cole said neither her dad nor her family knows Fletcher, who was confirmed to have walked off a work detail at the Carter County Detention Center on June 20, the same day Cole’s father was last seen.

“Billy Fletcher was a violent offender,” Cole said. “His prior charges included kidnapping, burglary, armed burglary, and assault. This man had no business being outside on a work detail to start with. It’s sickening. It makes me angry.”

That’s the reaction Cole had when she saw the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division’s information about Billy Fletcher being at a Hot Spot in Greenville wearing things that belonged to her father.

“As much as I knew that in my gut, I think I still didn’t want to admit it until I saw that video in the gas station and saw that shoulder strap broken that he has tied together and my dad’s sunglasses on his face,” Cole said.

As each day passes Cole, said she holds on to hope that she will see her dad again.

“I want my dad to have another 40 years of skydiving and riding four wheelers and being a papaw,” Cole said. “I hope he didn’t take my dad from me, from us.”

Cole is asking for the community’s help. If you saw anything suspicious at all she asks that you call your local law enforcement agency.

At this time, neither Birchfield nor Fletcher have been located. Police are asking that if you see Fletcher you do not approach him.

According to SLED, Fletcher’s last known location was in the White Horse Road area of Greenville County.

The Carter County Sheriff’s Office said the car he was driving, belonging to Birchfield, has also been located in South Carolina.

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