VA VA - Keith Whitmore, 48, Augusta County, April/May 2018

[doodles1211]

"06/12/2018 Release from the Augusta County Sheriff's Office:
The sheriff’s office is seeking the public’s assistance in locating a missing Greenville man.

Keith T. Whitmore was reported missing by family members. He was last seen in the Greenville area, by an acquaintance, approximately one or two months ago.

Whitmore is a 48-year-old white male, 5’10” tall, and weights approximately 185 pounds. He has brown eyes and brown hair."

Search Continues for Missing Greenville Man

 

[cybervampira]

The Search Is on For an Augusta County Man Missing for 4 Months

Whitmore's twin sister Kelly says the past few months without her brother have been incredibly difficult. “It’s like part of me is lost and. It’s an emptiness there.”

Both of Whitmore sisters agreed that woods surrounding his home were the most likely place where they might find him.

Using every tactic in their means, including a search dog, the family's goal was to see if there were any signs they missed.

The search party was unable to find Whitmore.

“You’re always the twins you know and that connection is and will always be there, no matter what we find,” said Craig.

 

[PinkPrincessPoop]

One or two months ago? That's a very long time-span.

 

[Simply Southern]

Keith Todd Whitmore – The Charley Project

Whitmore was last seen in Greenville, Virginia on April 10, 2018. He has never been heard from again. His family reported him missing in June of that year. Whitmore left his clothes, both his vehicles and all his other belongings behind at home, except for his cellular phone and wallet. Few details are available in his case.

 

[TatianaBarbie]

The AWARE Foundation on FB had this post about a volunteer search this past July. I hope they are able to find Keith in a future search:

The AWARE Foundation, Inc.

 

[PommyMommy]

NOV 6, 2021
Lack of new leads in 2018 case of missing Virginia man leave authorities, family pleading for public's help (yahoo.com)
As hunting season approaches each fall in the mountains of Virginia, KW holds onto hope that a hunter or hiker will come across a clue that will finally lead to answers about her brother’s disappearance.

[...]

Keith Whitmore always wore a hat, mainly his University of Virginia (UVA) hat.

“He was a big fan,” KW said. “And he never took that hat off.”

[...]

KW told Dateline that her brother worked hard his whole life, and even managed to retire from his job as a maintenance mechanic at the Hershey plant before he turned 50.

[...]

As the years passed, KW said her brother distanced himself from the family. He bought a house in a secluded area outside the small town of Greenville and lived a simple life, mainly kept to himself, avoiding people except for when he ventured out to pick up Chinese food each week.

[...]

The last time the family saw Keith was in June 2015. Their father was on his deathbed and Keith came to say goodbye.

“He was his typical self, but he seemed fine and it was good to have the family together,” KW said. “But that was it. That was the last time we saw him.”

KW continued to reach out to her brother through letters, calls and messages on social media. But his responses trickled down to silence.

In the spring of 2018, Kim stopped by her brother’s house with her grandsons, hoping to say hello.

[...]

KW and her sister continued to stop by the house. The porch light at his house was on. His cars were in the driveway. No one answered the door. Not even for the police who attempted a wellness check in May.

[...]

KW discovered his power had been cut off. And that his mortgage had not been paid. Trash in the outdoor trash bins had long expired. After countless attempts to reach Keith, KW and their sister broke into his house.

“Except for the power being off, everything appeared to be in order,” KW said. “Only thing that was strange was that his phone and wallet were missing.”

[...]

In June 2018, an official missing persons report was filed with the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office and an investigation was conducted.

[...]

... they searched bank and credit card records, and while Keith had plenty of money in his accounts, nothing had been used since April.

[...]

Anyone who believes they may have information on Keith’s whereabouts is asked to call the Augusta County Sheriff's Office at 540-245-5333 or Crime Stoppers at 800-322-2017.

 

[mlhenn]

Keith Todd Whitmore – The Charley Project

Last updated November 17, 2021; picture added, details of disappearance updated.

• 
• 
• 

Whitmore, circa 2018
Details of Disappearance
Whitmore was last seen in Greenville, Virginia on April 10, 2018. He has never been heard from again. He was single and childless, and lived alone at the time of his disappearance in a seculated area outside of Greenville. He mainly kept to himself. The last time his family saw him was in 2015, when he said goodbye to his dying father.

In the spring of 2018, Whitmore's sister dropped by his house to see him, and he wasn't home. She and his other sister repeatedly visited, and although the porch light stayed on and Whitmore's cars were in the driveway, no one ever answered the door.

In May, his family asked the police to do a welfare check, but they couldn't find Whitmore either. His family reported him missing in June of that year, after the porch light turned out; it turned out the power had been cut off. The mortgage also hadn't been paid in months.

Whitmore left his clothes, both his vehicles and all his other belongings behind at home, except for his cellular phone and wallet. Everything appeared to be in order at the house, as if he had left and intended to be back within a short time. The circumstances of his disappearance are unclear.

 

[Beccalicious]

Bumping

 

[Caring1]

Keith has been added to NamUs

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

 

[truthfinder2019]

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid02uaqPgYopMpJpmduURFLsG9BEBTvh6iMig3hyzoQ9cZfTb1zTvsy2qTS6s74K7y96l&id=582675068550931

 

[methodwriter85]

I get the feeling that Keith likely went out for a jog or a hike and had some kind of bad accident/health event and just hasn't been found. He disappeared from what looks like a pretty rugged area called the Shenandoah Valley. He chose the house he lived in precisely because he wanted to live in a secluded environment. I also feel like the fact that he left the porch light on his house on means he was expecting to get back to his house but after dark. Or he could have been someone who liked walking the woods at night.

Suicide is of course a possibility, but the porch light makes me think otherwise- why leave a light on if you're going to kill yourself? Keith also strikes me as the type of guy where if he had planned on taking his own life, he would have tied up all loose ends first like taking care of his garbage and turning off his utilities and the like.

Foul play is another possibility, but his bank accounts weren't touched. He had decent money, supposedly. Unless any foul play was not motivated by money. He was a good-looking guy, I think- maybe spurned romantic overtures?

 

[FaerieDust]

Are his family religious? Could he have been in the closet so to speak and didn’t feel like he could be himself with them?

I ask because he reminds me of a family member of mine who is gay but took a long time to come out for fear of family reaction, and lives a very solitary secluded life because he doesn’t feel like he is openly comfortable in his sexuality. Never any public relationships either, very avoidant and secretive around his personal life.

 

[methodwriter85]

Are his family religious? Could he have been in the closet so to speak and didn’t feel like he could be himself with them?

I ask because he reminds me of a family member of mine who is gay but took a long time to come out for fear of family reaction, and lives a very solitary secluded life because he doesn’t feel like he is openly comfortable in his sexuality. Never any public relationships either, very avoidant and secretive around his personal life.

Well, an article read I did mention that Keith's sister Kim wanted to re-establish contact with him because she had grandsons that she wanted a good Christian male role model for, so I assume they did.

I can see that. He may have just been a hermit, but I can also see him being gay and unable to be open about it. I mean, Keith was objectively a really good-looking guy. I'm not saying good-looking guys can't be single hermits, but he would have had interested women hitting on him, especially if he was as polite and respectful as people say he was. Maybe he kept to himself purely to avoid the awkwardness of people trying to ask him why a very good-looking single guy with a stable financial situation didn't have a wife or a girlfriend?

That also kind of ties with one of my theories- maybe Keith had a secret boyfriend that no one knew about, or he was meeting up with various men and one of those dates went south? If foul play was involved, I don't think money was the motive, or his accounts would have been cleaned up. Keith could have been picked up by a date, and the date went wrong, or the date was actually a set-up.

I do think it's also not really a coincidence that Keith slipped away from family contact once his father died. If we go with the "Keith was gay" theory, maybe Keith felt less obligated to pretend to be a straight man once he buried his father? Could his sisters have tried fixing him up with women and he withdrew because he didn't want to come out to them?

 

[JSolt1210]

Yeah I agree with your theories, @FaerieDust and @methodwriter85

At first I suspected suicide after the death of his father, but I didn't realize Keith disappeared three years afterwards. Plus, Keith also separated himself from his family, so would he take his life over a family he doesn't seem to be that close to, to begin with? The counter to that, however, might be that he distanced himself because he just didn't want to add to his family's grief or let them see him grieving.

The "hiking/walking theory" makes more sense, especially with the detail of the porch light. Keith's communication to his family "trickled down to silence." But is this because he gradually wanted to cut them off or because something abruptly forced him to? From what the family describes, it looks like Keith just stepped out but had every intention of returning. Maybe he had every intention to write back too—just not as often.

The "gay theory" is definitely intriguing and seems to fill in some missing pieces. Like why he was so reclusive, why no mention of any significant others, etc. Then again, since he reportedly kept to himself and only went out for take-out once a week, maybe he was asexual, or relationships were just not a priority for him. Or he kept that part of himself so private that no one noticed?

So here I wish we could learn more about this "acquaintance" that was the last person to see Keith. Was this someone who just knew him in passing? A neighbor? How well did this person know him? Well enough to remember the exact date s/he last saw him, but not well enough to be curious where he was in the two months until he was reported missing?

Also, when his family went up in the spring, they found that "power had been cut off... his mortgage had not been paid. Trash in the outdoor trash bins had long expired." Can this information be used to narrow down the time window in which he most likely disappeared? Like how long is the grace period between last payment and his electricity getting shut off? When did he last make a mortgage payment? What was the expiration date on the trash still in his bins?