On Saturday April 11th, 1998, 17 year old high school junior Jaisle Elizabeth Thomas parked and locked her white Mitsubishi facing north on Willey Bridge. She walked away, alone with her keys, wearing a blue blouse with white dots, blue pants, and a small chain around her neck. She had left home that day to go to her part time job at the Ukrop’s at Three Chopt Rd and Patterson Avenue, as well as to the University of Richmond Library to study for an AP class she was taking. The family was leaving for New York for Easter vacation and she wanted to make sure that her work was done beforehand. No records have her showing up at the library and she was last seen around 8:30pm by a witness, driving her Mitsubishi at the Village Center where she worked. Her parents waited for their daughter to return, even going to check the library themselves, but she never came home. By 11pm that night Jaisle had been reported missing.
Police initially suspected that Jaisle had been out with her friends, and would return on her own by the next morning. Her parents insisted that she never hung out with her friends at night, never went anywhere without her family, and would always let them know. They described her as “a well self-disciplined, very smart, and religious child.” She was slated to give an announcement at her church the next morning and work an evening shift the next day, she didn’t show up for either.
At 3:20pm the next day police located the abandoned vehicle, still parked and locked, containing all of Jaisle’s personal posessions: her uniform, paycheck, wallet, bible, shoes and a camera. The only thing missing was her keys. Was she going to look at the water and planned on returning to her vehicle? I know I’ve personally done that, why carry all my stuff with me if I know my car is locked and I’ll be back shortly? The thing is though, the Willey Bridge isn’t particularly pedestrian friendly. There’s a good sized shoulder but no sidewalks, and walking out onto the bridge just to look at the water would be a little odd, especially anytime after 8:30pm. We don’t know when the car was parked there either though, there’s a mention of a witness seeing Jaisle walking away from her vehicle but it doesn’t mention if it was that night or possibly the next morning or even what direction she was walking. We also don’t know on what part of the bridge that her car was parked, I couldn’t find it listed anywhere and the bridge extends past the water for a ways on both sides. Could she have parked close to where it meets the land and taken a walk to the riverbank?
What most people, and investigators, thought upon finding the car at that location was that it was a suicide. Fire Dept. Water Rescue teams dredged the river for over 2 hours on April 16th looking for Jaisle, and at a later date brought down scent dogs from NoVA to walk along the river banks, they didn’t find Jaisle or produce any new leads. There was no evidence that she actually made it into the water or any that completely rules out her being abducted. A young girl walking alone at night could easily be picked up and taken without anyone noticing.
The information on Jaisles case is limited, I found one article in the Richmond Times mentioning her and the search on April 16th and that was it for the newspaper. Her parents posted a statement in 2001 on their church website that has since disappeared but you can find on the wayback machine. It describes the frustrations that they’ve endured throughout the whole process and their disdain for the attending investigator, Officer Timothy Morris. They also pose a theory that Jaisle was abducted by other teenagers that were angry or jealous with her but didn’t elaborate any further. As of the posting in 2001 they believed that their daughter was still alive. I’ll add the statement in its entirety below. It feels like there’s so much information missing from this case, or maybe it just hasn’t been made public. If she made it into the water then how has she not been found yet?
If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Jaisle Elizabeth Thomas please contact the Henrico County Police Dept. at 804-501-4113 referencing Case No. 98-0412012
At the time of her disappearance Jaisle is described as 5’5-5’6′, weighing 115-120lbs, with brown eyes and black hair. She is of South Indian descent. She has an oval shaped birthmark on the shin and her left leg and a black mole on her left shin just below her knee. She has pierced ears and is right-handed. She would be 41 today.
**Just to clear up something that can be very confusing reading posts and missing person reports. Jaisle was reported missing on the night of April 11th, her parents phoned the police at 11pm and they showed up at Midnight that night. The police also stated they were going to give her 24 hours to show up before they would list her as a missing person. Therefore her date of disappearance shows up as Sunday April 12th instead of Saturday April 11th when she was last seen.
Nightmares of The Month 