James Lubin Valdez had just surpassed a full year of sobriety. He had lost weight and had learned how to manage his Type I diabetes.
In May of 2021, James married his girlfriend of several years, Anna. Anna had previously told him they would not marry until James managed to stay sober for at least one year- and he had succeeded.
But the marriage wasn’t without its problems.
On June 9, 2021, James and Anna had a fight, and James left the house. James visited his wife later at work, and the argument continued. After, he went home and packed a bag. He planned on going to the nearby Ozarks to visit his teenage daughter.
The events of the next week are unclear. There are mixed reports, and many who said they might have seen him or interacted with him, couldn’t remember the exact dates.
On June 19, 2021, Jamie’s friend, and Anna’s boss, came across Jamie’s car near a swimming hole, and also near a home that Jamie’s family had lived in. This was also 10 miles from where he currently lived with Anna and her family.
The car was found in an unusual way. It was filthy dirty, the front seat was pulled all the way up, and someone had written in the dirt on the back window. It simply read, ‘Help me, he is near.’
Anna drove to the car and took photos. She sent the pictures to Jamie’s sister who lived out of state. His sister told Anna to immediately file a missing person report, which she did.
To date, Jamie has not been found, although strange clues would continue to come in.
Jamie Lubin Valdez was born into a tight-knit, large family. He spent time in Arkansas and Texas and struggled a bit with his sobriety on and off. Jamie is also diabetic and has had troubles in the past managing his diabetes, although he was said recently to have that under control.
Jamie also had a daughter that he adored, and in his early 40’s, he began dating Anna. Anna and Jamie had a good relationship for the most part. Jamie wanted to get married but Anna told him that he had to stay sober for at least one year before they could get married.
In May of 2021, after a full year of sobriety, Jamie and Anna would get married.
Jamie’s sobriety was a huge win for Jamie and his family, and everyone was so proud of him. In addition to staying sober, Jamie also managed to get his diabetes under control and lost weight, getting himself to a much healthier place.
In early June of 2021, Jamie and Anna moved back to Booneville, Arkansas after living in Texas for a while. Jamie’s teenage daughter was a couple of hours to the north in the Ozarks, and both Anna and Jamie had family near Booneville.
Anna’s mother also lived with the newlyweds as she had just had back surgery and needed help, and Anna’s brother lived with them as well.
On June 9, 2021, Jamie and Anna had plans to spend the day together. Those plans were derailed, however, when Anna was called in to work.
Jamie was upset that Anna was going in to work- he was looking forward to spending the day together. Anna and Jamie had an argument, and Jamie left the house. Later on, he showed up at Anna’s work, where they argued again.
Jamie then went home, packed some clothes, asked Anna’s mother for $600, and said he was going to spend a few days with friends in the Ozarks and visiting his daughter.
A few days went by, and Anna didn’t hear from Jamie. But, they had been arguing so she thought he just needed time to cool down.
After a few more days, Anna started to become worried. She talked to her boss at work, and her boss went home to tell her husband, a man who was also a childhood friend of Jamie’s. He said he’d keep an eye out for Jamie.
On June 19, ten days after Jamie left the house, Anna’s boss found Jamie’s car. It was parked near a swimming hole in the area of Sugar Grove- a few miles southeast of Booneville and happened to be nearby a house where Jamie used to live.
Map of Booneville, Arkansas and Sugar Grove, ArkansasPhoto byGoogle Maps
It was not a populated place, and it was definitely odd that his car was there. In fact, the friend only found the car because he was visiting a cemetery nearby. He had actually seen the car there during a prior visit but hadn’t thought much about it. Now knowing that Jamie was missing, and the car looked like his, he stopped to investigate.
He took pictures of the car and sent them to Anna, who forwarded them to Jamie’s sister in Texas.
It was definitely Jamie’s car. However, the vehicle was filthy dirty, the front seat was pulled all the way up, and there was a cryptic message written in the dirt on the back window. The message read, “Help me, he is near”.
Anna asked if she thought she should call authorities, and Jamie’s sister said absolutely.
Something seemed very, very wrong with the entire situation. Here was Jamie’s car, but now where was Jamie?
THE SEARCH.
Law enforcement did come out to do a search and investigate further.
They found some of Jamie’s belongings nearby, including his medical card and items from his wallet. They did not find Jamie’s cell phone or the car keys. There was also a meat grinder that had been in Jamie’s car that he had used for work, but that was also missing.
Detectives also discovered that the vehicle engine had been tampered with. Wires deliberately had been cut, seemingly by someone who knew what they were doing.
It didn’t make any sense. There was no reason that Jamie would have even been in that area, and he certainly wouldn’t disable his own car.
And the message on the back window was ominous.
Authorities also started going door to door and talking to people in the neighborhood. Eventually, some young men came forward and claimed responsibility for writing the message on the back window. They claimed they did it as a prank when they came across the dirty vehicle. Their story checked out, so there was finally an explanation for that message.
Search dogs were brought in, but nothing else was found in the area- besides the items they found in his wallet.
After speaking with the friends in Ozark, it was learned that they had dinner with Jamie on June 12th, and he spoke about his fight with Anna. He also had planned on returning home soon.
However, later, these friends admitted that they actually didn’t know the exact date of when that happened, but you’d have to think it was sometime after June 9th if he had told them of his fight with Anna.
But Jamie’s family isn’t putting much stock into their story.
Another investigator came in to help locate Jamie, and they were able to access Jamie’s iCloud account. Jamie had a cell phone, but no cell phone plan, so he only used his phone when connected to WiFi.
His phone had last pinged 3-4 miles away from where his car was found, in an area that was underwater at that time.
Searches of that area, however, turned up no additional clues.
This was the lead that led law enforcement to believe they might be looking at a case of foul play here. Why would his phone ping somewhere that was underwater? Yet, they never did find the phone- or any signs of Jamie.
Interviews with people known to the area also uncovered the mystery behind the creepy message on Jamie’s back car window- the message that read, ‘Help me, he is near’. Turns out, it was simply a few young men who had been walking through the area and found the car and decided to write them a message as a prank.
This does make sense to me- but, somehow their story would be reported in two different ways. First, law enforcement said the men walked by the vehicle and it was running with someone inside. They didn’t pay it any attention.
On their walk back, the car was no longer running and there was no one around, which prompted them to write the message.
However, after the family found these young men later on and questioned them about this, they said they never saw anyone in the car at all and that law enforcement had been mistaken.
Seems an odd thing to make a mistake about, doesn’t it?
Physical searches of the area would continue throughout the summer and into the fall, finally halting when hunting season began.
No additional signs of Jamie were found.
There would be the occasional sighting of Jamie that would be reported- and one seemed somewhat promising. A neighbor in the area had seen a man around the time Jamie disappeared. He was walking down Dry Creek Road carrying a bundle of what looked to be clothing.
Authorities investigated but were unable to corroborate that story. It is unclear if they believe it may have been Jamie Valdez.
Sadly, law enforcement never processed Jamie’s car as a possible crime scene. They didn’t take fingerprints or look for any blood evidence. Since this time, the car was been repossessed and its whereabouts are unknown.
Booneville, Arkansas is a small town located in the Arkansas River Valley- an area of rural land that sits in between the Ouachita National Forest and the Ozark Mountains. Boonville does serve as one of the county seats of Logan County- the other being the town of Paris.
Today, Boonville has a population of just around 3800 permanent residents. This is a few hundred less than in the year 2000 when the population was just over 4100.
Booneville is also just 30 miles from the Oklahoma state border.
What will you find in Booneville, Arkansas?
A lot of rural land. Several churches. An elementary school, a junior high, and a high school. Typical small-town America.
The Petit Jean River is located to the south, and Booneville Reservoir is to the north. There are a few other lakes scattered about and several ponds. Booneville Resovior, or Booneville Lake depending on who you talk to, is a 13-acre small recreation lake on the north side of town.
Dry Creek Road is a winding rural road on the south side of Booneville, into a small area known as Sugar Grove. The area is exceptionally rural, wooded, and sparse, although there are homes scattered up and down the road.
This is the road that Jamie’s car would be found on. Dry Creek Road is also the road that Jamie lived on previously, as his mother used to reside on Dry Creek Road.
His car was found near a local swimming hole off of this road and was seen by a friend who was driving to a nearby cemetery.
Jamie no longer had family in that area, so it’s unusual that his car would be found abandoned there.
The question really is- who put the car there? Did Jamie drive it there and leave it? Or, someone else? Who tampered with the engine? And most importantly, where is Jamie?
THEORIES and POSSIBILITIES.
Jamie had been sober for a year before his disappearance. Had something happened that caused him to ‘fall off the wagon’ as they say? He did just have a fight with his wife and could have been stressed or anxious about that.
He also had his health under control finally after learning to manage his diabetes. He had lost weight and seemed to be doing good. However, some have spoken up to say that they thought he might have gained some of that weight back.
Diabetes can cause episodes of delusion and affect someone's ability to function properly. Could he have become lost and disoriented? It is believed that he didn’t take his medication with him when he left, or at least not medication that would have lasted him for any length of time.
If Jamie had an accident, possibly due to sobriety issues or a diabetic episode, where did he end up that no one could find him?
His car was found near a swimming pool, and in addition to small lakes and ponds, there are creeks and rivers in the area as well. Jamie’s sister also mentioned they think it is possible he could have fallen in and drowned in an area of rushing water.
But if this is the case, why was his car left where it was, and why was the engine tampered with?
Or- did Jamie simply leave his life in Booneville and want to start over somewhere else? There has been no activity on any of Jamie’s accounts, social security number, or driver’s license. But people have done it before.
And then there’s the issue of him asking his mother-in-law for $600. What did he need that for? Just for traveling to his friend's place up north in the Ozarks? Why that amount?
The issue here is that everyone said Jamie would never abandon his family. He had never done anything like that before. And he certainly wouldn’t leave his daughter behind.
During one interview that Jamie’s sister did, she specifically stated that the moment they knew someone was very, very, wrong was when he missed his daughter's 16th birthday- something he would never do.
Another major concern here is foul play. Some believe that Jamie’s wife hasn’t been as cooperative as they’d expect, and it was soon learned that she had a boyfriend, possibly even before the time Jamie vanished. There were also rumors of trouble brewing between her brother and Jamie.
It’s unclear what is meant by ‘trouble’, but there was apparently some tension between the two. Jamie and his wife Anna were living with her mother AND her brother.
Anna had also reported that a handgun belonging to Jamie was also missing from the home. Does that mean that Jamie may have taken it himself, or was it disposed of for other reasons?
Other than law enforcement’s fear of foul play in Jamie’s case, and his family's concern of the same, there is no evidence pointing to anyone in particular.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Homicides are the crime least likely to be committed by a stranger. Meaning, as we all know, people who are murdered are usually done so by someone they know, possibly upwards of about 90% of homicides.
I’m curious to know what you think happened to Jamie Lubin Valdez?
Where is he??
Jamie is described as a Caucasian male, standing about 5’9” tall and weighing around 200 pounds when he was last seen in June of 2021. Jamie was 47 years old, and would today be 49.
Jamie has brown hair and brown eyes, a mole on his left cheek, and the tattoo, ‘Sierra’ on his left arm.
Anyone with any information on the whereabouts of Jamie Lubin Valdez, is asked to contact the Booneville Police Department at 479-675-3508.
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