Found an article from late 2022 about Jimmy, behind a paywall. I'll copy and paste it below.
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SENECA — It’s been more than 35 years since Jimmy Whitfield disappeared and, for Selena Moore, the pain and grief over her missing son hasn’t improved with time.
“It’s gotten worse,” said Moore, now 80. “The holidays, that’s when it’s the roughest. On Mother’s Day, he always brought me three red roses. People say ‘he's been gone that long, just forget it,’ but you don't forget a kid.”
Reports in March 1987 said Whitfield had an argument with his wife, Wanda, packed a pair of pants, took $2.000 and walked out of his home in the Friendship Community near Seneca, leaving a wife and two children. Moore said she didn’t learn he was missing until six weeks after his reported disappearance. She said she thinks about him often,but doesn’t believe he ran away from his family.
“Sometimes, you sit back and you think, ‘if somebody did do something to him how did he die? Did he suffer anything? Or if he got in a fight and something happened,’” she told The Journal. “Then you think, ‘if he did walk off, what caused him to and not ever get in touch with nobody.’ Now, that is a funny feeling. People really don’t know what you go through.”
“I just don't believe he would have walked out,” she added. “He wouldn’t have left those kids. Even if somebody walks out, sometime, they get to thinking about home.”
Moore said her son started working insulating homes as a teenager, around age 15 or 16. He was still doing that work before he disappeared.
“He worked hard all his life. He was a good man,” she said. There ain't nobody perfect, but he was good. He loved his wife and family.”
Oconee County Sheriff Mike Crenshaw was a new deputy at the sheriff's office when Whitfield was reported missing.
"I remember walking some land in Seneca with James (former sheriff Singleton)," Crenshaw said. "We had some probes and we walked the property looking for shallow graves. We felt we had a direction in that case, but the investigators at that time came to a dead end.”
A reward is being offered for anyone with information about the disappearance of Josh Ivester leading to solving the case. Those with tips can call Crime Stoppers at 1-888-CRIME-SC (888-724-6372) or the sheriff’s office criminal investigation bureau at (864) 718-1052 and ask for Jimmy Dixon. Tips can be made online at
oconeesccrimestoppers.com, by visiting
p3tips.com and clicking “submit a new tip,” or via mobile phone by downloading the P3 Tips App on your Apple or Android device.
Submitting a tip to the Crime Stoppers website and the P3tips app makes anonymous dialog with tipsters easier, according to officials. Tipsters should record their tip number and are encouraged to check back often on the website or app, according to Crime Stoppers of Oconee County coordinator Helen Westmoreland.
