Hello. I am actually using my sister's login right now b/c I have not gotten one yet. My Name is Amanda or Mandy (I answer to both.), and I just wanted to answer a few of the questions that Ashley has not gotten to yet.
My grandfather is not our biological grandfather. He married my grandmother (Ann)when my dad was around 13, so he is the only grandfather that we ever knew. He is pretty much the only father that my dad knew as well. My dad had a close relationship with him, and so did my sister and I.
My grandmother was staying with my Aunt Linda at the time of his disappearance. My cousin, Sarah, was also living there. We are the same age, so she was just about to turn 16. Sarah said that he came over briefly to talk with my grandmother that night/ afternoon (The time has not really been specified to us. However, we think that it was sometime around 6 or so because we passed him going in the opposite direction around that time. He was heading in the direction of my aunt's house and that is why I assumed the he was gong there then. That was the last time I saw him.) Sarah did mention that they were arguing and that she didn't come out of her room because of that. She said that she did not actually see or speak to him directly. I do not think that my Aunt was home at the time.
Like my sister mentioned above, he was a helpful person, so the idea that he may have picked up someone has crossed our minds. I can't say that I have ever known him to do anything like that, but it is always a possibility. It was always baffling to us that he would leave at night considering that he had a hard time seeing at night, and he had just had eye surgery. I saw him that afternoon, and I know that he said that he was not going to be there the next day to get my sister off the bus. I know that he said that he was going to Florida. I don't remember him saying that he was leaving that night.
My parents are the ones that reported him missing the sunday after he was last seen. We were not there for most of the investigation into his disappearance b/c we spent our summers in Florida with our cousin. We were never questioned.
As for the car information, I am not sure why it was so difficult at the time to get it or why it was never recorded. I know that the car was a brownish color. I know that it was a mid 80's model chevy. I cannot remember if it was a cavalier or a celebrity. I did use his car to take my drivers test 6 days before, so I have given that info to the police in hopes that maybe they can pull a record from that. The original investigator that worked the case said that he remembers his license plate number being BLT-666.
Yes he did live in Plant City. He worked at Paradise Fruit Company and retired from there in the 80's. My grandmother and him moved to north Florida for a brief time after retirement, but later moved back to Plant City for a few years. He still has family there. (My whole family lived there at one time. We migrated up here in the early 90's. My grandparents followed soon after.) My Aunt Irene, his sister, is the last of his siblings still alive and still live there. She has given DNA before but for some reason it was misplaced or something. We are in the process of trying to get it again. It is a frustrating ordeal considering she is 85. I hate the stress of the situation for her, and then there is the fact that she is not going to be with us forever. The DNA is the main focus right now.
There are a lot of weird unexplained issues with this, and Ashley and I are willing to answer and share any information that we have in hopes to bring him home. I think you all for your interest and kind words.
Mandy
raying: