Missing: Leslie Jo Grissom, 19, Vanished from Kittrell, NC in 2007 - Case Details & Updates

Missing Person: Leslie Jo Grissom (appeared as "Leslie Joe Grissom" in newspaper archives)

Details from a government source (might be paraphrased):

Leslie Jo Grissom was last seen on Sunday, July 8th, 2007, at a residence in Kittrell, North Carolina, after walking away from the residence.

Last contact: Sunday, July 8th, 2007 at about 1:30AM
Last location: Kittrell, North Carolina - Residence in Vance County; I think the last-seen location might have been 3985 Weldon Mill Road, Lot 15, Henderson (maybe spelled "Weldons"). That address is mentioned as one she shared with someone. However, the town of Kittrell is listed as her last-known location in some sources.

The Daily Dispatch/July 12th, 2007

Age when Leslie Jo Grissom disappeared: 19
DOB: Between July 9th, 1987 and July 8th, 1988; one source said November 20th, 1987.
Sex: Female
Height in inches: 61
Weight in pounds (lbs): 105
BMI: 19.8 - Healthy weight (calculated to help picture what Leslie Jo Grissom might have looked like)
Ethnicity: White/Caucasian
Hair color: Blond/Strawberry
Eye Color: Blue
Distinctive Features: No information entered
Link to Government Source: NamUs MP147344 (right-click to open)

Unraveling the Mystery: Key Insights and Updates

By: Shane Lambert
Original time of writing: Sunday, August 17th, 2025

Leslie Jo Grissom has been missing since July 8th, 2007. She reportedly went missing after an argument with her live-in boyfriend. This boyfriend, Jake Holden Gilliam, is the individual who reported her missing on the afternoon of July 9th, 2007.

I reviewed the early journalism with this case. The first article I found that mentioned her disappearance was on July 12th, 2007 in a newspaper known as The Daily Dispatch. The wooded areas around her home were searched and dogs were used.
There was the suggestion that she was in northern Franklin County. In fact, at one point this missing person case seemed to be resolved as per the article below.
July 13th, 2007/The Daily Dispatch

A strange detail in this case is that the missing person had a twin, one that I presumed to be identical. It's this twin who may have been spotted in the days after Leslie was last seen in a case of mistaken identity.



I will note that in my searching through newspaper databases, her name was spelled with "Joe" as the middle name. In online sources, she is called "Jo." I think the latter is more in line with the feminine usage of the name.

Comments

Post a Comment

Best of MPC (as selected by the site's author)

Missing Kids and Their Bicycles - Cases of Dario Cicolecchia, Janice Pockett, and Others

Image
By: Shane Lambert Season 2 of Forensic Files included an episode (Episode 12) that offers key insights for those studying missing persons cases. The episode covers the 1993 disappearance of Dario Cicolecchia, a boy in Switzerland, whose case led to a murderer’s capture and revealing statements about his methods. This case provides a nugget of information worth considering for similar mysteries. Dario Goes Missing: Secluded Area, Unwittingly Leaves Trail for Pedophile to Follow Dario went missing after leaving home on a bicycle to go fishing. He was later found dead and mutilated in a Swiss cornfield. Forensic medicine revealed he was drowned, with diatoms (one-celled organisms found in water) in his lungs. These diatoms matched a nearby creek, pinpointing the murder location, and were also found in the suspect’s car, linking the victim, car, and crime scene. The convicted murderer, Roland Kubler, was featured in the *Forensic Files* episode “Micro-clues”...
Read more

Jerry Strickland, Melissa (Missy) Munday -- What Happened After the "Unsolved Mysteries" Episode 2

Image
By: Shane Lambert Time of writing : December 5th, 2020 If you are a fan of the old "Unsolved Mysteries" episodes that Robert Stack hosted in the 1980s and 1990s, then you might remember Episode 2 of Season 1. That program opened with a murder case, one that saw Elmer DeBoer brutally killed, allegedly at the hands of one Jerry Strickland. Wed, Feb 19, 1992 – Page 22 · Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michigan) · Newspapers.com The story of Strickland, his girlfriend Missy Munday, and the murdered DeBoer ended with viewers learning about the arrest of Strickland after the episode aired. For those wondering what happened next, here's a rundown. According to an article in the Detroit Free Press from August 17th, 1988, Munday testified against Strickland and named him as the murderer of DeBoer. She claimed that Strickland confessed to the murder. Charges against her were dropped because of this. Wed, Aug 17, 1988 – Page 4 · Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michigan)...
Read more

The Mystery of Beverly Sharpman's Disappearance: The 1947 Philadelphia Missing Person Case

Image
By: Shane Lambert Original time of writing: February 18th, 2018 Tonight I looked at the mysterious case of Beverly Sharpman, an individual who was last seen on September 11th, 1947 in Philadelphia. NamUs has her listed as 16 years old at the time of her disappearance. However, all the newspaper articles I looked at indicated that she was 17 years old at the time. Generally, she is reported as 17 years old, which has always meant that she is a missing child. Exploring the Enigma of Beverly Sharpman’s Disappearance The case stands out to me because of the huge effort that individuals in Beverly's family made, especially her mother Nettie, in attempting to find her. Furthermore, I'm not convinced that Beverly Sharpman died at a time close to her disappearance. Lastly, I'm not convinced that the love that Beverly's family felt for her was entirely reciprocal. My opinion in this cloudy case is that Beverly disappeared voluntarily. Have a look at t...
Read more

James Hugh Wilson -- Missing Since Plane Crash in 1970

Image
Missing Person : James Hugh Wilson Last-contact date : January 28th, 1970 Area MP was last seen : Cleveland, Ohio Link to government source : NamUs #MP62284 Ethnicity : White Sex : Male Age at time of disappearance : 48 years old Hair details : gray or graying Eye details : blue Height/weight : 6-foot to 6-foot-1 and 180 to 220 pounds Details from NamUs : this individual was on a plane that crashed into Lake Erie on the day of his disappearance. Note: this article is not about the musician, James Hugh Wilson, who plays the cello. James Hugh Wilson, a missing person, was last heard from on January 28th, 1970 when he was 48 years old. When James disappeared, he was of the Cleveland, Ohio area. What stands out in this case, is the elephant in the room: James was on a plane that crashed. They recovered most of the bodies, however, James was not among those recovered. Someone lost in a plane crash might be lost for all time. However, his remains might turn up someday. From what I read, the ...
Read more

The Rahway Jane Doe from March 25, 1887 (New Jersey)

Image
By: Shane Lambert Original time of writing: February 6th, 2017 Updated: February 16th, 2021 The Rahway Jane Doe is an individual who was murdered in the town of Rahway, New Jersey, on March 25th, 1887. The mystery of the murder victim's identity stands out because, at the original time of writing back in 2017, it was the oldest unsolved mystery listed at DoeNetwork.org. I researched this mystery using online newspaper databases for a good two hours on February 5th, 2017. At the time, I thought that there was very little chance of conclusively solving this mystery, even with modern technology that wasn't available in 1887 (online newspaper databases). The "clews" in this case (that's the 1887 spelling of "clues") are 99% red herrings if you ask me. Perhaps the best chance of identifying her is through DNA and the family-tree method. Note: I think I generated a lead for investigation with a second look at this topic in 2021. Please visit my other articl...
Read more

Dottie Caylor's Disappearance - What Happened After the "Unsolved Mysteries" Episode

Image
By: Shane Lambert 03 Apr 1998, Fri The News Journal (Wilmington, Delaware) Newspapers.com Dottie Caylor's disappearance was featured in one of the opening episodes of the "Unsolved Mysteries" television program. According to a Youtube video I watched , it was in the pilot episode. From Wikipedia, it was a special program that was aired before the series became the series that fans grew to love. According to a newspaper article I consulted (The Leaf-Chronicle out of Clarksville, Tennessee), the show aired on November 29th, 1987. If you watched the "Unsolved Mysteries" program and wondered what happened with this case, then this article is for you. 29 Nov 1987, Sun The Leaf-Chronicle (Clarksville, Tennessee) Newspapers.com Firstly, this individual, as of the time of writing (December 17th, 2021), still has an active missing person's profile with NamUs, America's national database of missing people. Dorothy May Caylor is case number #MP14589 . H...
Read more

Reba Dawn McCoy (Attempt to Match) -- Missing Since March 28th, 1999 (Sunday)

Image
Missing Person : Reba Dawn McCoy Details from a government source (might be paraphrased) : Family last saw Reba in March 1999 in Columbus, Ohio. She had a possible destination for travel, being New York (note: presumptively NYC as opposed to New York state). Last contact : March 28th, 1999 (Sunday) Last location : Columbus, Ohio (one source said the Southfield area of Ohio) Age when Reba Dawn McCoy disappeared : 32 Sex : Female Height in inches : 62 (which is 5'2") Weight in pounds (lbs) : 110 Ethnicity : White/Caucasian Hair color : Brown, long Eye Color : Green Scar or distinctive characteristic : Tattoo on upper left arm (in the picture, it looks like the tattoo is of a word that starts with a "D" and maybe "Da". Link to Government Source : MP137310 (right click to open) Websleuths discussion page : Reba Dawn McCoy (right click to open) BMI means body mass index. It is meant to describe someone's healthy body weight relative to the i...
Read more

Stephanie Ann Drnovsek -- Missing From Lakewood, Colorado Since 1984

Image
Author : Shane Lambert Original Time of Writing : January 11th, 2021 Significant update : April 5th, 2025 All articles are subject to editing after the original posting. / A high-school photo for a missing 27-year-old? Missing person : Stephanie Ann Drnovsek Last-seen date : September 5th, 1984 (Wednesday) Last-seen location : Lakewood, Colorado, in the 10600 block of West Virginia Avenue near South Kipling Street Link to Government Source : #MP21211 Ethnicity/Race : White Sex : Female Age at time of disappearance : 27 years old Hair : Blonde/strawberry Eye color : hazel Height and weight at the time of disappearance : 5'4" and 120 pounds Other : scar on abdomen from removal of uterus; butterfly tattoo on abdomen; also, tattoo on left hip as per the Colorado Bureau of Investigation ; had a fractured right femur (often called a thigh bone) at some point in her life. Vehicle : She was driving her boyfriend's vehicle. It was found at Colorado Boulevard and Mexico Avenue ( ...
Read more

NamUs #MP8602 - Notes on Ashley Fuller Reed

Image
By: Shane Lambert The Original Time of Writing : October 1st, 2018 Updates : February 25th, 2025 On October 1st, 2018 I took a look at the missing person's case of Ashley Fuller Reed ( NamUs #MP8602 ). I read over her case at NamUs and then used an online-newspaper database to look at the reporting from 1990 that covered her case. I feel that anyone websleuthing this case should know about details that I came across during this research. It's my opinion that NamUs doesn't provide enough information. Furthermore, I took a look at the greater region and the large time frame associated with this case. I've noted numerous cases of white females going missing from Texas after experiencing car troubles between 1988 and 1994. These cases may or may not be related. NamUs says that Reed was last heard from on January 15th, 1990, a Monday holiday (Martin Luther King Jr. Day). One newspaper article (El Paso Times/March 24th, 1990/page 13) contradicted that and said that she ...
Read more

Dorothy Jean Vaillancourt: A Jane Doe Cold Case Finally Solved After 59 Years

Image
The Unsolved Mystery of Dorothy Jean Vaillancourt: A Cold Case Finally Identified After 59 Years By: Shane Lambert Original time of writing: March 21st, 2025 This article is part of a short-term series where I am doing deep dives at some solved cases to see what the circumstances were. Click on the label "Deep Dive at a Solved Case" to see other similar articles. Discover how a 59-year-old cold case was finally solved and explore the modern forensic techniques that cracked this decades-long mystery. Uncover the haunting details of Dorothy’s final days in 1966 and delve into the investigation that struggled to name her. Learn why Dorothy remained unidentified for so long and why no one reported her missing. Investigators solved a nearly 60-year-old mystery recently. The remains of a woman found in Tiburon, California, were identified as Dorothy Jean Vaillancourt (née Williams). Known as "Marin County Jane Doe," her case had baffled investigators since her decompo...
Read more