The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office is asking for help with its search for Richard Jones, a military veteran who was reported missing in June 2022.
Lt. Matt Moore said investigators do not believe a crime was involved in Jones’ disappearance, and because the search is not part of criminal investigation, the Sheriff’s Office is limited on what it can do legally to locate Jones.
“It is not a crime to go missing,” Moore said. “If it was a criminal investigation, we could request search warrants for his phone, bank account and his social media (activities). We are a little bit limited as far as resources (we can use) in our investigation. That is why we are putting this out there and relying on tips from the public to give us a call where he is at.”
Jones is now 44. He was 42 when he was first reported missing on June 9, 2022, Moore said.
In July 2022, the Sheriff’s Office posted a picture of Jones on its Facebook page and asked the public for help in locating him. Jones was described in the post as being 5 foot 11, weighing 200 pounds and having brown eyes and hair.
Moore said Jones was renting a mobile home in the 6000 block of Second Street in House Springs when he was reported missing. He said the Sheriff’s Office was contacted by Jones’ landlord.
“She said he was good at paying rent, but he had not paid his rent since March,” Moore said. “When she went to the home, no one answered the door, but his car was in the driveway. The landlord went inside and everything appeared normal.”
Moore said when deputies went to the home, they also did not find anything that was out of place. He said Jones left behind his military uniform and medals and other belongings, such as electronic devices.
Moore said Jones’ neighbors described him as a bit of a recluse who they rarely saw in the neighborhood.
“They did not have a good time frame when they last saw him at the home,” he said.
Moore said investigators did learn Jones made some bank transactions in House Springs near the end of March 2022, and that Jones used an ATM at a BP gas station near Hwy. 30 and Hwy. Y during that time frame.
He also said a Franklin County Sheriff’s Office deputy had provided Jones a ride on March 29, 2022, to the Shady Beach Campground, 136 Shady Beach Lane, in St. Clair.
Moore said the deputy saw Jones walking in the area and did a wellness check on Jones. He said the deputy told investigators there was nothing suspicious about Jones, and the deputy checked to see if Jones was wanted on any outstanding warrants before driving him to the campground.
Moore also said when investigators spoke to the campground’s manager, they were told Shady Beach would have been closed at that time.
Investigators also were told someone who may have been Jones was seen at a Dollar General in St. Clair in late March or early April 2022, Moore said.
“We didn’t get that information until June or July 2022,” he said. “By that point, camera footage has been written over. We were months behind the eight ball of getting video.”
Moore said Jones was not in communication with his family members who live on the east coast.
“We have been in contact with them, but they have not reached out to us,” he said. “The family had not been in contact with him for years, and none of them live in the area.”
Moore said members of missing-person Facebook page groups and members of the military have contacted the Sheriff’s Office to assist in the search.
“They (members of the military) have a general interest in the case because he was a member of the military,” he said.
Moore said as of today, Aug. 7, Jones’ case is one of 17 active missing person cases the Sheriff’s Office is investigating. He said the 17 active cases are average to low average for the number of missing person cases the department typically has open at one time.
He said some of the open cases are older than Jones’ case, such as the searches for Amanda Jones and Ronnie Bolin.
Amanda Jones, who was 26 and lived Pevely, was nine months pregnant with her second child when she disappeared on Aug. 14, 2005.
Bolin was 33 and living in Hillsboro when his vehicle was found abandoned on July 9, 1996, in a parking lot of a car wash in the 2200 block of North Florissant Avenue in north St. Louis County.
“We have some old missing person cases, and we still get tips on those,” Moore said. “We will investigate until we find them.”
Moore asks anyone with information about Richard Jones or others who have been reported missing to call the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office Detective Bureau at 636-797-5515.