SEPTEMBER, 1998-Efforts to find Troy Lee Jacobs are ongoing.

By Pat Allen Wilson
Staff writer

Troy Lee Jacobs

Efforts to find Troy Lee Jacobs, a 22-year-old Hoke County man who disappeared in February of 1996, are ongoing. Plans are to distribute flyers this coming Sunday, September 13.

Community United Efforts (CUE), a Wilmington-based, non-profit organization which helps locate missing persons, has joined authorities and family members in finding out Troy’s fate. He is believed to have been murdered.

CUE is offering a $500 reward for information leading to the recovery of Jacobs’ body. Monica Caison, CUE president, points out that the reward doesn’t hinge on finding his killer. The goal is to locate Jacobs’ body in order to bring closure to the family and to bury him beside his mother, who died in 1984.

Plans to distribute the flyers on August 29 were thwarted by Hurricane Bonnie, and Sunday’s date is a rescheduling of that effort.

Caison says many flyers have been made up with Jacobs’ photo and pertinent information. Volunteers are being sought to help give out the flyers. Plans are to distribute them in both Hoke and Robeson counties.

Persons 18 years old or older are asked to join the flyer distribution efforts, and Caison requests that they bring identification. Volunteers are asked to meet at Pine Grove Holiness Church, 1637 Andrews Road, (off Red Springs Road) after church. They should be at the church no later than 1:30 p.m., according to a relative. Members of the congregation will serve sandwiches and drinks, he said.

Troy Lee Jacobs, of Lumbee heritage, is described as 5’6″ or 5’7″ inches tall and weighing 130 pounds with brown eyes and brown hair. He was last seen between midnight and 1 a.m. at a convenience store on NC Highway 211 in Red Springs. He was wearing a dark blue pullover sweat shirt, black pants, green and white sneakers and a blue Carolina cap.

Anyone who has information on Troy’s disappearance is asked to call the Hoke Sheriff’s Department at 875-5111.