The Jamison Family Disappearance and Deaths: All Clues Lead to Nowhere
A friend of Sherilynn’s told the police that she sometimes conducted seances with Sherilynn, though Sherilynn took them much more seriously than she did.

Sherilynn had written odd messages on the storage container about her black cats being poisoned, as she believed that someone from the neighborhood had killed her cats, and “witches did not like it when their cats were killed.”

As you can imagine, Sherilynn’s neighbors found the behavior extremely off-putting and they avoided the Jamison family like the plague. Of course, that’s exactly what the Jamison’s wanted.

Both friends and family agreed with the Jamisons that their home was haunted, and a few have shared that they, too, experienced odd things inside the house. But with severe depression and paranoia looming large over the family, it’s not hard to imagine that the house had a “heavy” feel to it.

Here is part of the surveillance video:

Theories

If you haven’t already, brew a pot of coffee and find a comfy place to sit because there are a multitude of theories about what happened to the Jamisons.

The Jamisons Were Members of a Satanic Cult

Sherilynn’s mother, Connie Kokotan, claims her daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter was on an Oklahoma cult “hit list.” [5]

She stated:

“That part of Oklahoma is known for that…cults and stuff like that…from what I’ve been told and from what I’ve read. I was told (around the time of Sherilynn’s disappearance)…that she was on a cult’s hit list.” [6]

Ms. Kokotan didn’t provide the name of the alleged cult, nor have police found any links to one.

Sherilynn’s mother, Connie Kokotan, holds up a family photo — Source: The Oklahoman

She went on to say that there is no way Bobby and Sherilynn would have put their daughter in danger, but I’m not so sure. More on that later…

Spiritual Warfare

I am a Christian, so I do believe in spiritual warfare. I absolutely believe in a spirit world, and that spirit world is made up of both good and evil spirits. If you don’t believe in any of these things, just skip this section. I’m not trying to be preachy, I’m just trying to give the theory a fair shake using the religious beliefs I’m most familiar with.

I think when people hear the term “spiritual warfare,” they envision a ghost or Satan himself striking someone down — as if the devil literally killed the Jamisons up on that mountain. A guy dressed all in red, with horns and a pitchfork knocking them over and sucking the life force out of them. I guess if you’re going to believe in spirituality at all, you can’t really rule it out.

I understand that as a Christian, it’s no weirder than believing God’s Son rose from the dead after three days.

In my experience, however, spiritual warfare is more subtle. It’s fought through things like mental illness and drugs, both of which are vital aspects of this case. For some people, drinking brings out their “demons.” Part of the solution to this problem is to quit drinking. I have bipolar disorder and I am intimately familiar with deep depression. If you believe in a literal Satan, then it’s not a stretch to believe that Satan uses mental illness to further oppress people.

Part of the solution to the deep depression that Sherilynn experienced was in a bottle of medication that she sometimes opted to ignore. I’m not blaming her for anything. I’m just saying, if you believe the devil or dark spirits can trap someone, then you must also believe that God — or light, or whatever you personally call it — provides a way out.

And I say “part of the solution,” because many people are genetically predisposed to mental illness and never show signs, but then some tragedy or stressful event triggers it. In the case of substance abuse, people have typically turned to drugs to numb themselves from a painful reality. So, taking medication and getting clean are only two aspects of the solution. You also have to get to the root of the problem and fix whatever that is.

Unfortunately, when you have a mental illness, it’s not always possible to pull yourself together and do what needs to be done. A lot of people don’t understand that, so it needed to be said.

If it were always possible, people would not allow themselves to languish in agony.

A Meth Deal Gone Wrong

The side effects of methamphetamine use — Source: Northpoint Washington

The area of Oklahoma where the Jamison family lived, as well as the area they were hoping to move to, is well-known for its drug activity, namely methamphetamine. There is quite a bit to support the notion that the Jamisons’ death was the result of a botched drug deal.

In the surveillance video where Bobby and Sherilynn were seen packing their truck in a trance-like state, the two also appeared to be emaciated. Now, not everyone who does meth loses a lot of weight, but many do. I have some experience in this area, as I’ve dealt with meth addicts in my life. Some meth users end up looking like Holocaust victims. They become nothing but skin and bone, they have sores on their body, and their faces become sunken in and they can look downright frightening.

Drugs would also explain the large sum of money found in the Jamisons’ truck. No one knows where that money came from, or what the couple planned on using it for. Bobby and Sherilynn were both on disability and struggling financially, so how did they get their hands on $32,000?

Crystal meth could also account for the couple’s erratic behavior, and this is why I believe it’s possible that Bobby and Sherilynn would put their daughter in harm’s way. I’ve known two meth addicts in my life. One of them left her toddler home alone in a crib to go chase after a boyfriend who had beat her up. She lost custody of her daughter.

Meth can turn people into monsters, and it erodes their decency and common sense. Nothing is more important to a meth addict than meth. They don’t care who or what is in the way. It’s just collateral damage. Ms. Kokotan states that neither of the Jamisons was on drugs, but it has been my experience that relatives of drug addicts often live in denial or they’re simply too close to the situation to see the truth. They can’t always see the forest for the trees.

I’m not trying to say, yes, the Jamisons were meth heads who put their daughter in harm’s way. I’m just saying, never say never. It’s also possible that severe mental illness contributed to the couple’s gaunt appearance.

One theory is that the Jamisons stumbled upon illegal drug activity, saw more than they were supposed to, and were killed to keep them quiet. It seems odd, however, that their killer or killers didn’t take the cash in the truck. It could have been left there so as not to raise even more suspicions that drugs were involved.

Finally, the Sans Bois mountain range was known for its many meth labs, and Bobby had recently reported someone in the local area for running one.[7] The family could have been the victims of revenge, too.

Bobby’s Dad Killed the Family

Bobby Dean Jamison — Source: Findagrave.com

Bobby’s father, Bobby Dean Jamison (we’ll refer to him as “Bobby’s dad”) apparently wasn’t the nicest guy, and Bobby and Sherilynn filed a protective order against him claiming that he had threatened to kill Bobby, Sherilynn, and Madyson over some business dealings. [8]

In the protective order, Bobby alleged that his father was a “very dangerous man who thinks he is above the law” and that he was involved in “prostitutes, gangs, and meth.”

According to Bobby, his dad hit him with his car on November 1, 2008.

The order was filed just six months before the Jamisons disappeared.

Bobby’s father died two months after the family went missing, however, and had been in poor health for quite some time. [1] Bobby’s uncle, Jack Jamison, said Bobby’s dad was “either in a hospital or rest home” at the time of the disappearance, and that he was a disturbed individual but not capable of murder.

So, maybe Bobby’s dad didn’t kill the family himself, but if it’s true that he was involved in meth, it’s possible he at least played a role in the murders. It’s also possible that Bobby and Sherilynn used some of his contacts to get involved in the meth trade. Additionally, it was rumored that Bobby’s dad had connections to the Mexican Mafia. [5]

In any case, investigators said Bobby’s dad had a solid alibi and dismissed him as a person of interest. He died in December 2009.

A Kidnapping Plot

What if someone murdered the Jamisons to get their hands on little Madyson?

If you’re familiar with this case, then you’re probably familiar with a photo of the child that was found on Bobby’s phone, showing Madyson with her arms folded, looking scared. Personally, I don’t think the photo is all that shocking, but it is part of the many theories swirling around this case, just the same.

The last photo of Madyson on Bobby’s phone — Source: Conundrums & Conspiracies

When the Jamisons’ bodies were found, there was a dried flower included with Madyson’s remains. [9]

A Murder-Suicide

The Jamison home was not a happy place, and Bobby and Sherilynn’s relationship was not a stable one. Investigators discovered just how shaky their relationship was when they discovered an 11-page “hate” letter from Sherilynn to Bobby in the family’s truck.

In the letter, Sherilynn raged against her husband, calling him a “loner” and a “hermit” who didn’t care about his daughter. [10] It was a laundry list of all the things Sherilynn hated about Bobby, and she wrote that she wanted a divorce.

This theory is supported by the fact that Sherilynn was known to own a .22 caliber pistol that she carried with her in the truck. Furthermore, the coroner found a small hole in Bobby’s skull that might have been from a bullet. [11]

The police ultimately concluded that the hole was not from a bullet, but local hunters disagreed.

However, neither Sherilynn nor Madyson had any injuries to suggest they had been shot. Moreover, the gun has never been found. If Sherilynn had used it to kill her family and herself, one would think it would have been found at the crime scene or somewhere close by, and that all three family members would have been shot.

Sherilynn’s friend Niki Shenold explained away the hateful letter that Sherilynn wrote her husband by saying this:

“She would write things down when they came into her mind, but then she would move on. She loved Bobby.”

Niki Shenold with Sherilynn — Source: Daily Mail

White Supremacists

In 2010, shortly after the Jamisons’ story appeared on the Investigation Discovery (ID) show “Disappeared,” Shenold received a strange phone call that suggested yet another theory as to what happened to the struggling family. [1]

The caller, a woman, informed Shenold that she once belonged to a white supremacy group and she had seen a book containing the names of people that someone in the group “had a problem with” who needed to be “taken care of.” [12]

The caller said she tried to memorize the names in the book and would go home and look them up on the Internet. Many of the names came back to missing person cases — including the Jamisons.

The woman also told Shenold about the insignia on Bobby’s wedding ring, which Shenold claims few people knew about.

Shenold said:

“She had overheard some conversations with these guys where clearly they were talking about Sherilyn, Bobby and Madyson; that they took care of them.”

The caller added another disturbing detail:

“Supposedly one of the guys talked about how he liked to put Madyson on his lap and how it made him feel good.”

The above quote also supports the theory that the family was kidnapped so that the kidnapper or kidnappers could get to Madyson.

Prior to the Jamisons’ disappearance, a man stayed with the family who expressed to Sherilynn his displeasure over her Native American heritage. He reportedly told her that he hated Indians and anyone who wasn’t white. Fearful of what he might do to Madyson, Sherilynn pointed a gun at him and forced him to leave the house. [7]

The man had a solid alibi, so police dismissed him as a suspect, but it’s at least possible he had true connections to white supremacists and that Sherilynn’s name wound up on a hit list.

They Got Lost

Maybe the Jamisons got lost and succumbed to the elements. After all, it was getting colder. If the family was exposed to the elements long enough, they could have frozen to death, starved to death, etc.

This is unlikely, however. Here’s why.

The Jamisons’ abandoned truck — Source: Red Dirt Report

The Jamison’s truck was parked in such a way that it appeared that they were leaving and were stopped by somebody. The family actually ventured to the top of a hill, their GPS showed. They did not stay with their truck, but the hill wasn’t all that far away.

Their bodies were found 3 miles from their truck, and people who know Bobby say there’s no way he would have been able to walk that distance with his back problems. Also, the family was found side-by-side, face-down in the dirt. It’s unlikely that if they all died of exposure that they would have died lined up that way.

Lots of Leads but No Answers

Most of the time, a case with so many potential leads is an investigator’s dream come true. Not in the case of the Jamison family.

There are so many leads and so many different possibilities to consider, yet all of those leads have led to dead ends, and each question has only led to more questions.

The autopsies provided no answers, either. The bodies were so badly decomposed, with no soft tissue present, and so many animals had nibbled on the family’s bones that their cause of death could not be determined. [13]

Keeping in mind that I’m a writer and not a detective, here is what I think happened.

I think drugs played a role in the Jamison family’s demise. I know Sherilynn’s family doesn’t believe the couple was involved in drugs, but I tend to disagree. If they were into meth, they surely would have done their best to cover it up so as not to lose their daughter or worry their families. Have you ever tried to get a meth addict to confess to being an active user? Good luck.

Bobby and Sherilynn’s appearance on the surveillance camera — both their behavior and their gauntness — points to meth use, as does their paranoia.

The family was struggling with serious financial problems, yet they had $32,000 in cash on them when they disappeared. I believe they were selling drugs and they planned to use the money to move away and start over. They were only involved in dealing drugs as a temporary “fix” for their problems and told themselves that as soon as they had what they needed, they would stop.

My theory is that they went to the mountains and met up with someone they knew from the drug trade, either on purpose or it was an unfortunate chance encounter. Bobby and Sherilynn informed that person that they no longer wished to be involved in the drug trade, and their announcement went over like a hand grenade. “You can’t stop until we tell you to stop.” And even if that person agreed to allow them to cut ties, they knew too much, so they had to be killed.

Poor little Madyson was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, in the company of the wrong people. I hope and pray she didn’t see too much, and that nothing particularly sinister happened to her apart from the murder itself.

Unfortunately, for that reason, I think it’s unlikely the case will ever be solved. Meth addicts and manufacturers aren’t going to narc on each other, and I don’t get the impression there is much forensic evidence to go on.

Sources:
['The True Crime Times']
['Unsolved Mysteries', 'True Crime', 'Murder', 'Missing Persons', 'Crime']