Missing from: Gastonia, North Carolina
Missing: April 8, 2008
Age of disappearance: 22
Height: 4′ 8″
Weight: 95 lbs
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Brown/Blue
Distinguishing Characteristics: Scars, Marks, Tattoos: Caucasian female. Light complexion. Tattoo of the name Ricky on right ankle.
Details of Disappearance: Jamie was last known to be at or near her apartment at the Copperfield apartment complex in the 1800 block of Lowell Bethesda Road, in Gastonia, North Carolina on April 8, 2008. She was suffering from stomach flu and had been to the hospital twice the previous day. She called her mother at around midnight and said she was sick again. At 1:30 a.m., called a friend and said someone was going to pick her up and take her back to the hospital. She has never been heard from again.
Jamie left her purse, wallet, keys and identification behind at her residence. Two days after her disappearance, a utilities worker found her cellular phone at the intersection of south New Hope Road and east Hudson Boulevard, three miles from her home. Several phone calls were made from the phone at 4:30 a.m. the day she disappeared. None of the calls turned out to be connected to her disappearance; they were apparently from the phone’s list of recent calls dialed. The phone also received a call early on the morning of April 9. Police stated by the time they took possession of the phone, it had been handled by too many people to be valuable as evidence.
Jamie was engaged to be married at the time of her disappearance. Her fiance’s father, Ricky Dale Simonds Sr., is considered a person of interest in her case. He did maintenance work at the Copperfield complex, he lived two apartments over from her and was one of the last people to see her; he gave her a ride to the hospital emergency room a few hours before her disappearance, and another neighbor drove her home. Simonds refused to take a lie detector test in Jamie’s case. He has a criminal record for fraud, larceny and drug charges, and he served time in prison in the 1980s for manslaughter in connection with the strangulation death of an ex-girlfriend.
In June 2008, another ex-girlfriend found Simonds’s body in the trunk of her car. The woman had filed a restraining order against him after her car was broken into and her purse and keys were stolen. When she found the body, her keys were in Simonds’s pocket and her purse was in the trunk with him. Authorities believe he hid inside the car trunk in order to ambush his ex-girlfriend, and he got trapped there and died of heat stroke. It was only after his death that police said they suspected him of involvement in Jamie’s disappearance. There is no proof that he harmed her, however; no charges have been filed against anyone in her case due to lack of evidence.
Jamie was a part-time student at Gaston College at the time of her disappearance. Investigators don’t believe she left of her own accord, as she had no driver’s license and no transportation and it’s uncharacteristic of her to leave without warning. Her fiance was incarcerated at the time of her disappearance and therefore isn’t considered a suspect. Little evidence is available in her case, which remains unsolved.
LOWELL, N.C. — Gaston County investigators searched a lake on Tuesday, looking for clues in the disappearance of 22-year-old Jaime Fraley. Fraley has been missing since April 9. Investigators went to Lake Armstrong off Lowell Bethesda Road at about 9 a.m. Tuesday. They searched most of the day, but found nothing. Gaston County police would not confirm they were searching the lake as a result of a tip, but divers said they brought cadaver dogs out on boats and the dogs hit on something at both ends, but the search turned up nothing.
Investigating Agency: Gaston County Police at (704) 866-3320 or Crime Stoppers at (704) 861-8000
If you have any information on this case, please contact CUE Center for Missing Persons at(910) 343-1131 or call the CUE Center 24-hour tip line at (910) 232-1687. All information submitted to CUE Center for Missing Persons is confidential.