Found Deceased TN - Lucas Vance, 35, Unicoi County mountains, 29 Oct 2019

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TatianaBarbie said:
He states on this FB page that he is married, and it looks like they have a child. His family must be so worried about him.
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His last update to Facebook was almost four years ago. A lot can happen in one's life in that amount of time, another child perhaps, a divorce. Hopefully, we'll have more information about him soon.
 
He appears to have several different FB accounts under Lucas Vance and Luc Vance. I hesitate to link them, incase I’m mistaken.
 
CluelessWonder said:
I've been doing as much research as possible. There's much more to do. But here's what I have gathered so far.

Lucas had a brother named Chad. He lost his brother almost three years ago. It really caused me to realize what these boys' parents must be going through. Losing one young son is a heartbreaking tragedy. I'm hopeful that they won't lose two. Chad enjoyed the outdoors and motorcycles. I have to think that is true of Lucas, too.

Unicoi appears to be in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and in the Cherokee National Forest. It is also very close to the Appalachian National Trail. The trail veers to the right about 5-10 miles south of Unicoi. There are a lot of Vances who own property in Unicoi County, but not one of them is named Lucas. A Google search has given me an address NNE of the city. But I'm not sure it's his correct address. The home is on a street with other houses nearby. The road dead-ends at the next house on the street. There are lots of trees to the east as the forest land takes over.

I watched a long Facebook video that provided almost no new information. There's talk on the video of a "trail cam." I'm not familiar with these cameras, but I wonder if there's actually a trail or if it's just a generic term. Apparently, it was this camera which picked up Lucas arriving home and then not leaving via the front.

I recall hearing something about him having watched half of a movie. I don't know how anyone could know when he watched it. I assume that it was paused on the TV.

I read that his car was parked in front. But I see photos on Facebook of a motorcycle. Where was the bike? Did he still have it? If not, why did he sell it? Did he need money?

A lot of people who live in rural areas with hills may own an ATV. Did he have one? Is it gone?

If he has no ATV and no motorcycle, then what? Why would he leave on foot? Where would he go? If the address I found is correct, I suppose he could walk out the back door and to another property. Perhaps someone had a bonfire going or perhaps he knew a neighbor and went to visit. Could he have been at a nearby home with a woman when someone walked in on a little unexpected romance? I just don't know. But I'm not buying that he just walked off. If someone was distraught, there are places you can go nearby. I mean, there are epic places where you can go out in a blaze of glory. I'm not getting that here. Sure, I can see signs that maybe things weren't good for Lucas. For example, it was late in the month. He owned a business. Perhaps a lease or rent payment was due, and perhaps he didn't have the cash. That might be upsetting. Perhaps he was upset over a failed relationship. I mean, he's at that age when life can seem overwhelming if you hit a hard spot. By age 35, you expect to have a smooth road to follow.

Someone asked if he lived alone. I don't know. The address that I googled is connected to another person who is close to Lucas's age. But I have heard nothing about a roommate or anyone being home when he arrived.
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Not being rude or obtuse, but Unicoi Co is far from "foothills". Unicoi is as rough a mountain terrain as youll find anywhere in the Appalachian Mountains. I suppose that is not really pertinent to finding Luc, but it has certainly made the search effort more difficult and time consuming. It certainly seems like more and more people are randomly going missing in NE Tennessee & SW Virginia lately as well.
 
BristolPistol said:
Not being rude or obtuse, but Unicoi Co is far from "foothills". Unicoi is as rough a mountain terrain as youll find anywhere in the Appalachian Mountains. I suppose that is not really pertinent to finding Luc, but it has certainly made the search effort more difficult and time consuming. It certainly seems like more and more people are randomly going missing in NE Tennessee & SW Virginia lately as well.
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Yeah. I should have double-checked the "foothills" comment. After all, I'm a journalist! I have driven on Newfound Gap Road before. I always forget that the Appalachians don't go straight north-south. Now that I take a closer look at a map, I can see that the mountains run right through Unicoi. That would be difficult area to search for sure.

Having followed hundreds of missing persons cases, I recommend repeated searches near his home. Many times, searchers simply miss a spot.

My thing is that a distraught person might go to a high point and jump. But, without climbing gear, it might be difficult to check those areas.
 
CluelessWonder said:
Having followed hundreds of missing persons cases, I recommend repeated searches near his home. Many times, searchers simply miss a spot.

My thing is that a distraught person might go to a high point and jump. But, without climbing gear, it might be difficult to check those areas.
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Indeed, that could have happened, or he could simply have gone out back and fallen. If that had happened, would it be logical the trail cam would be missing? This feels more ominous.
 
CuriousCricket said:
I wonder if that's why the trail cam at the back of the house is missing.
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Sorry, just saw from the Jamie Wilson Amp video that the trail cam was in the front and trained on the front of the house. The trail cam IS missing.

From the video by his childhood friend Jamie Wilson Amp, Luc Vance had several cameras up. From one camera, they know he arrived home from work 10-10:30 p.m. He was seen on camera. He got out of his vehicle, went to the passenger side and got something out, and went back to driver's side briefly before going . . . I guess into house, but that apparently was the last sighting of him.

When Vance didn't show up at work the next day, his employees thought he'd overslept, so someone went out to wake him up. They were knocking, going around house, knocking on windows, trying to wake him up.

When that person got to the back door, it was unlocked. Person went inside. His phone was face down in the floor with a dead battery. There was money on the kitchen table. Amp says money from the till (at the restaurant) and Mr. Vance's wallet. In the bedroom, a pair of shorts was on the floor and his glasses were in the middle of the bed (as I recall). His contacts case was checked and apparently, he was still wearing his contacts.

He appeared to have been watching a movie as one was paused about 48 minutes in.

The street he lives on is a dead end with just three houses, four if you count the corner home. Luc and the neighbor up the street had a contentious relationship and had gotten into "it" several times -- perhaps about the trail cam, as his friend Jamie understood it.

After he disappeared, horses were used the first day and dogs finally used about the 14th or 16th day (if I recall correctly). Jamie said he had mentioned dogs early on but was told they wouldn't be able to pick up anything because it had rained. Eventually, though, dogs were brought in. Drones have been used in the search. His friends and loved ones have combed the territory around his home several times and Jamie approached the unfriendly neighbor's house from the back side.

The neighbor that Vance had problems with apparently has a big gate at the road. When the TBI went to talk to him, Jamie said on the video that the neighbor came down the drive way to meet them (seeming to suggest he has cameras on his entrance). The neighbor didn't want anyone on his property.

That's the succinct version. Amp said the friends and family are frustrated at the lack of updates from authorities and with the investigation. So far as they know none of the neighbors have been talked to.

Apparently Amp has made several videos. He tends to ramble. I'll try to locate more in the next day or so and report if there's more to report.
 
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TNGranny said:
My niece works for him at his restaurant and says he lives on Leech Rd. Leech Rd is off of Marbleton. The area he lives in is mountainous (Unaka Mt. Range) A small community surrounded by national forest and wilderness areas. I see ground searches have been going on this weekend and it appears to me that volunteers are all locals. I have heard he may have been depressed due to possibly losing custody of his daughters.
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As in losing custody or just having to split custody with the ex wife? What do people who know him think happened? Maybe a friend picked him up or all friends accounted for..?
 
Mountain Misst said:
Was the location treated as a potential crime scene? Is the media report of a text message sent by him at 1am been confirmed?
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Hi,
I had to look this up. Potential crime scene -- I've not seen any mention of that. Plus, his friend Amp, who posted the video said he went and stood on the back porch and looked around trying to get inside the mind of Vance and see where he might have gone.
Following is quote from a story at Family of missing Unicoi Co. man Luc Vance says it’s as if he vanished
"The final contact anyone in the family has had with him was a text message that he sent the following forming at 1 a.m. with no indication of a problem. (CC: seems to be typo. Perhaps morning?)

"When he did not show up at Maple Grove Restaurant, which he owns, the family grew concerned.

“'He was gone. There’s no trace. No clues. There’s no leads. We have nothing. It’s truly like he just vanished,' Brinkley said. 'His cell phone was laying in the floor. But everything – his driver’s license – everything you would take with you that you need. It was all at his house.'

The family says they have been in contact with authorities who ended their search last Saturday, but the family isn’t stopping.

“'I think he’s out there, but I don’t think he’s lost,' his daughter Addison said. 'I feel like somebody has him. ‘Cause if he was out there he would already have come home because he has a business. I feel like somebody has him.'”
--------------------------
CC: WJHL is a TV station in Johnson City, Tennessee, part of a metropolitan area known as the Tri-Cities, and is 7.5 miles from Vance's home, according to Google Maps. Tri-Cities refer to Johnson City, Bristol and Kingsport.

According to the story, his daughter Addison is 11 and Brandy Brinkley is a cousin. They were part of the family group that went to WJHL on Nov. 13 to request coverage.

When searching, I noticed stories by another nearby TV station, WCYB, in Bristol TN/VA, about 33 miles away.

In the Amp video, which I partially watched last night, he said it was as if something caught his attention or maybe he just paused the movie to go to the bathroom, no one knows, but it's as though Vance just stepped out his back door and vanished.

The attached photo was downloaded from the WJHL story quoted, which said the photo was supplied by the family as the latest photo of Vance.
 

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TNGranny said:
I just asked my niece what info she could give me or clarify and she says Luc drove home from the restaurant and both of his vehicles were found at his house. He lived alone on Leech Rd. She said he had been acting kind of depressed because he had (she thinks) lost custody of his girls. She thinks the trail cam is missing but she is not sure.
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Oh no, that can and will affect a parent really bad. I can see the urgency, if that is a fact.
 
I know the area well. I think it is unlikely that he would have gone walking/hiking in the surrounding woods and become lost. I doubt he would have gone into the woods at all and at night after working that day and having to work the next day. Usually, locals don't go hiking or walking around the woods at night unless they are coon hunting or some other type of hunting or camping and if they do that they have dogs or are with others. Even though his home is located in an area surrounded by forests and mountainous land, if he would have gone into the woods and gotten lost, he would have been able to find his way out fairly quickly and easily. To the north and west are many roadways, farmland, and houses. There is also an interstate, i26, that he may have been able to hear in the distance. The heavily wooded terrain begins mainly to the east and south. This wooded area has ATV and hiking trails. Even if he were lost in the woods he would come across a trail or eventually a road. To the east is a well-traveled road, Sciota Rd, that I'm sure he would know exactly where that is in relation to the terrain and elevation. I believe the way the terrain lays it would be a matter of walking up to the top of a mountain ridge and then down to either Sciota Rd to the east or following the ridge to Hwy 107 to the south. I think if he walked into those woods he would have been able to walk back out unless he wasn't physically capable of doing so. I think that a local, especially a young man like Luc who enjoyed the outdoors (judging by the images I've seen) would have been able to walk back out of the woods even if he would've gotten turned around or lost. So I don't think he unintentionally got lost in the woods near his home. As far as his state of mind at the time, I have no idea and I don't know him, but it just doesn't make any sense to me that he would intentionally disappear out of the lives of his family and friends without a word. He is described as being a very caring person who is concerned about others. I may be wrong but that doesn't seem to fit his character. Here are two maps. One shows where his home is and how even though there is a forested area, there are roads in that area I know he would have been aware of. The other map shows where his home is in relation to his restaurant. https://photos.app.goo.gl/MhqSQaW8yb7W2wSb6 https://photos.app.goo.gl/EuVgDxHYigWzfSYD9
 
A couple more things from the video by Jamie Wilson Amp, which I finished watching this morning. As I understood it, Jamie assisted in the search and talked to Luc's family, neighbors and friends on Saturday, Nov. 16, then started the video. He and Luc were very close friends as children and Jamie knew two of Luc's neighbors from that same time frame. It is said some of the neighbors are sleeping with the lights on and their guns beside their beds.

A. Jamie said it is now an investigation instead of a search, as he understood it.

B. The house was not taped off until Saturday. (CC: I think he was talking about Nov. 16). One person, a Jessica, watching the live feed, said she had gone inside the house and used the bathroom. No one told her she couldn't, she said, and seemed a bit worried that her finger prints will be in the bathroom.

C. Jamie clarified that as he understood it, the back door was not open but was unlocked.

D. Jamie was telling that everything: Vance's phone, wallet and ID were all there. When he started to say "keys" he brought himself up to mention that the keys were in the truck, parked in the driveway, which made no sense to him because that wasn't something Luc would have done, leave his keys in the vehicle. (CC: sounds as though the video of Vance arriving home needs another look to see if him removing the keys or leaving the keys is discernable.)

I've watched another video. It's the one of his family in the conference room of WJHL. A family spokeswoman (I didn't hear a name) said that all his vehicles were there: his truck, his motorcycle and even his bicycle were all at home.

I got the impression she may have been the one who went to the house to wake him because she said that at 8:30 that morning, something to the effect when she got there, it never occurred to her but that they would just find Luc, but here they are two weeks later and they have no idea where he is.

I'm personally curious about the phone in the floor, wondering how far inside the back door it was. Could it have been tossed inside by someone who didn't want to track and leave prints inside the house? Or was it far enough inside, or in a different room it could not possibly be tossed there from an open back door?

The Google photo of the Vance home is dated 2008. From the drone videos made in the past couple of weeks, I could not see a house that looked the same. The drone showed that some of the trees were fully leaved, others were bare and it varied from place to place. Some areas had enough leaves that the ground was not visible. Other locations, the ground, brush piles and old tires were easily visible.

The family is asking for prayers and for everyone to contact law enforcement for updates, hoping that numbers will keep LE involved. They seem frustrated at how the investigation is being handled and that they are not receiving updates.

The house from Google Maps has a basement, so I'm wondering if the basement had windows, which might have had wells to allow light in. People have been known to fall in and be unable to get out. Surely, if they exist, they have been checked.

Also, I suspect Vance would have guns in the house. Are they all accounted for? If he heard something outside, surely he would have taken a gun with him?
Very mysterious.
 
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CuriousCricket said:
The drone showed that some of the trees were fully leaved, others were bare and it varied from place to place. Some areas had enough leaves that the ground was not visible. Other locations, the ground, brush piles and old tires were easily visible.
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We have had an unusually warm fall here in East Tennessee. I don't think I've ever seen so many leaves still on trees this late in the year.
 
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