Ball never returned home and has never been heard from again. While his wife of forty years was at work the next day, someone came to the residence and took some of his clothes and a puppy.
The day before his disappearance, Ball told his brother-in-law he was coming into some money and, if all went well, he would be set for life. It's unclear whether this has anything to do with his disappearance.
This is all very strange.
<<His last night at home, Ball left around midnight when a truck pulled up and honked. He came back the next morning, got some clothes and his dog and never returned.
Ball was last seen on September 27, 1988, in a green Dodge vehicle in the Twin Oaks and Siloam Springs, Arkansas, area.
The husband and father of six, is described as a kind, hard working man who would never abandon his family. While they have no proof of foul play, family members believe Ball was murdered. The day before he disappeared, Ball had told his brother-in-law that he was coming into some money and if it went well, he would be set for life. Ball was declared legally dead in 1996.>>
April 5, 2005
KANSAS, OK Authorities on Monday discovered what may be a human bone while digging for the body of a man missing for 16 years. An anonymous tip led the Delaware County Sheriff's Department to begin s…
www.oklahoman.com
<<The Delaware County sheriff's office received a telephone call last week saying the missing man's remains are in an abandoned well west of Kansas, Blackfox said. No suspects are in custody.
Authorities started digging up the well about 8 a.m. Monday. By afternoon, a backhoe overturned part of the sole of a shoe or boot at roughly 18 feet, Blackfox said. An empty brown billfold and the apparent bone fragments were found a couple feet deeper.
"What we think is a bone, we're going to have analyzed, Blackfox said.
The two fragments, measuring 1 inch by 1 1/2 inches, will be sent to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation in Oklahoma City for testing, he said.
A caller said Ball's body would be found in the well somewhere between 8 and 10 feet down, Blackfox said.
The well was filled with rock and dirt in 1995. It is in a pasture along U.S. 412 in southern Delaware County. Family members and Delaware County deputies at the dig site said the land was covered with brush and weeds, and a deteriorating fence has partially enclosed the pasture since 1988.
Ball's wife, Betty Ball, said this is the third site authorities have examined in the past 16 years. All locations have been in the southern part of the county.>>