an old article from 2007
Search for man continues
Mother seeks closure in ’05 disappearance
May 31, 2007
By
MIKE ROSIER
Index-Journal staff writer
STARR — It was nearly more than Louise Holley could bear.
Someone was spreading lies that her son — Jonathan Terry Holley, who disappeared from Abbeville County in October 2005 — had been found.
What was worse — they appeared to her to have been told deliberately.
After hanging identification fliers in many local businesses, Louise Holley would return later and the fliers would be gone. Store owners said they were told her son had been found, so they had taken down the fliers.
“When we put the fliers out, people would tell the store owner that he had been found and he hasn’t been found,” she said.
“They would say that (my son) had been found, and then the store people would take them down.
“Nobody knows who was doing it, but it really hurt.”
She last saw her son on Sept. 29, 2005, when he stopped by her home — where he was living at the time — for a bath and fresh change of clothes. He had told her he would see her later that evening — but Jonathan Terry Holley never came back home.
His mother has been anxiously awaiting any news ever since.
“He came in and took a bath and changed clothes and kissed me and said, ‘Momma, I love you and I’ll see you tonight,’” Louise Holley said Tuesday. “I haven’t seen or heard from him since. He was not the type to just walk away like that. “He still lived at home. Jonathan would not do this to me.”
The Abbeville County Sheriff’s Office says fresh leads and additional information about the man’s disappearance are still being sought.
Holley was last seen Oct. 26, 2005, at a gathering on Old Vienna Road in Abbeville County. Abbeville County investigator Mike Belcher said Holley has not been seen or heard from since, and also has not contacted family members or friends.
Louise Holley needs closure in the worst possible way.
“It’s been a long time, not to know anything,” she said, fighting off tears that still burn hot despite the time gone by. “I would just love to know if he’s OK or if something has happened to him so that I can get some closure.
“At times like Christmas and at his birthday, it hurts, it hurts really bad, but you have to have hope and you have to have God on your side. Without God, I’m not sure where I’d be right now.”
Jonathan Holley was 25 when he disappeared. He stood at about 5-foot-8 and weighed about 175 pounds.
He had several tattoos on his body, including a large swastika on the left side of his chest, a tattoo of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee riding a horse on his left side, a skull tattoo on his right shoulder, a running vine tattooed on his neck, a skull tattoo on his left calf and a bumblebee under his right arm.
Louise Holley remains convinced someone locally either knows what happened to her son, or has information that would help. But until someone comes forward, she continues to wait — and pray.
“He was always on the go and running off with his friends,” she said. “But if he was going to be gone two or three days, he would always call me and let me know where he was and that he was OK. I’m pretty confident that someone (in the area) knows something. If I could just find him — wherever he may be, I just need to know.
“If someone would just let us know where he’s at so we can have closure. You have him on your mind constantly and it’s always in your thoughts. Not knowing (what happened) can drive you crazy. It’s almost been two years, and here we still don’t know anything. It just hurts deeply.
“Maybe something will break — I hope and pray, anyway.”
