Dateline Missing in America – Ep. 22: Mystery on Lovejoy Road

Summary

Dateline Missing in America – Ep. 22: Mystery on Lovejoy Road

Podcast: Dateline Originals
Host: Josh Mankiewicz (NBC News)
Air Date: September 5, 2025

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Main Theme

This episode of "Missing in America" delves into the mysterious disappearance of Roy Whited, a beloved pastor, coach, and community figure from Sparta, Tennessee. In early May 2024, Roy vanished without a trace, and his case remains unresolved despite community-wide searches, active investigation, and intense personal efforts from friends, family, and law enforcement. The episode explores Roy’s life, possible motives for his disappearance, the leads pursued by investigators, and the lingering impact on his community.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. A Pillar of the Community

• Roy Whited’s Background (01:02–06:34)
  • Respected pastor at Derosset Church of Christ, former basketball coach with a state championship under his belt, real estate agent, and local auctioneer known for his booming voice and larger-than-life personality.
  • "He was a good preacher, you know, he had a way with the word." – Doug Watts (01:31)
  • Roy’s role as a counselor and confidant was emphasized by friends and co-workers, particularly during his involvement in church and real estate.

2. Personal Life and Recent Struggles

• Divorce and Emotional Strain (06:34–07:24; 26:15–27:49)
  • Roy’s divorce after 30+ years of marriage was described as "very bitter" and emotionally traumatic, especially for his two sons.
  • "Yeah, it was a disaster to him. He felt like I didn't even want to go to Walmart. I was just ashamed to go to town, you know, he felt that way." – Doug Watts (26:15)
  • Friends describe seeing Roy stressed and possibly burned out in the weeks leading up to his disappearance.
  • "I hate to use the word burned out, but I believe he was ready to maybe step back, you know?" – Doug Watts (21:44)

3. Timeline of Disappearance

• Days Leading Up to and Day of Disappearance (13:31–15:57)

  • May 3, 2024 (Friday): Roy works at Tristar Real Estate, appraises a property, and is last known to be seen driving home (14:06–14:30). Surveillance captures his truck but not clearly who was driving.
  • May 4 (Saturday): No calls or activity from Roy, and he misses calls from close friends.
  • May 5 (Sunday): Roy fails to appear for church; his truck is parked as usual, house found undisturbed except for his absence, with phone next to the bed and sermon notes left out (08:54–09:16).

• Critical Clues

  • No signs of struggle; both keys and wallet are missing.
  • Sheriff's speculation: "We don't know that Roy drove the truck home. Somebody did. We don't know that that was Roy." – Sheriff Steve Page (10:00)

4. Investigation & Searches

• Search Mobilization (12:42–13:31)

  • Hundreds participated in searches by horseback, ATV, drone. No trace found.
  • Surveillance and trail camera footage yielded no leads; power usage data suggested Roy was home the night of May 3 but someone left by morning with no increased activity (18:55–19:29).

• Leads and Theories Explored (17:09–34:54)

  • Potential evidence lost: "By the time law enforcement got to the house, there were already people in the house, and people had already been in his truck ..." – Sheriff Steve Page (17:09)
  • No digital or financial activity suggesting planned disappearance (18:13–18:26).
  • Key items missing: Roy’s wallet and a handgun from his bedroom; increased fears of foul play or possible suicide, though the sheriff is skeptical: "I don't believe the man killed himself ... I just don't." – Sheriff Steve Page (27:31)
  • Real estate dispute: Roy was troubled about a possible forgery involving a local property; this angle was examined but provides no clear leads.

5. Impact on Family, Friends, and Community

• Emotional Toll and Ongoing Search (36:11–38:18)
  • Friends describe ongoing grief, inability to move on, and haunting uncertainty.
  • "Sometimes you don't sleep. You wake up in the middle of night. First thing you think about, where is he? You know, you try to go through different scenarios and nothing makes any sense. Nothing." – Doug Watts (36:35)
  • Roy’s brother Lynn tirelessly organizes billboards, yard signs, and a hotline in his search for answers.

6. Law Enforcement’s Stance

• Sheriff's Dedication vs. Family Frustration (30:10–30:47)

  • Tension between the pace of law enforcement investigation and family’s desperation for progress.
  • "Everybody wants me to tell everything, but I can't do that. I don't want to jeopardize the case ..." – Sheriff Steve Page (30:10)
  • The sheriff reiterates personal commitment: "No, sir. I will not stop." (35:34)

• Current Theory

  • Sheriff suspects Roy left with someone he knew—possibly voluntarily but with unknown outcome. No evidence of foul play, but “a few possible suspects” have been noted (34:27–34:54).
  • Private investigator hired by the family believes Roy is a homicide victim, but has no concrete evidence.

7. Unanswered Questions & Call to Action

• The mystery remains frustratingly opaque with no sign of Roy or conclusive evidence.
  • Despite a $15,000 reward, no leads have panned out.
  • "I believe somebody knows something. They just haven’t come forward yet." – Sheriff Steve Page (34:54)

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On Roy’s Influence:
  • "He was like a son to me and he called me his second mom." – Barb Witzigman (05:07)
• On the Suffocating Grief:
  • "It's just different, you know, it's just the emptiness. But, you know, we have to move on." – Doug Watts (36:11)
• On Law Enforcement’s Frustration:
  • "There's too many cameras in the world. There's a lot of people that's looking for him." – Sheriff Steve Page (30:36)
• Family’s Tireless Efforts:
  • "We've done billboards, we've done over a hundred yard signs ... I went and bought a phone just for anybody that would want to give an anonymous tip." – Lynn Whited (38:00)
• The Call to Help:
  • Roy Whited is described for identification: "5’11’’ and 175lbs with brown eyes and auburn hair that is graying. He was 64 at the time of his disappearance in 2024 ..." (38:25)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Segment | Description | Timestamp | |:--|:--|:--| | Introduction & Roy’s Life Story | Roy’s background, reputation, and community impact | 01:02–06:34 | | Divorce & Emotional Challenges | The toll of Roy’s bitter divorce | 06:34–07:24, 26:15–27:49 | | Disappearance Timeline | Events leading up to & following Roy’s disappearance | 13:31–15:57 | | Search & Investigation | Search efforts, forensics, potential suspects | 12:42–19:29, 30:10–34:54 | | Real Estate Dispute Theory | The property dispute Roy was involved in | 31:40–32:47 | | Family & Community Impact | Friends & family on living without Roy | 36:11–38:18 | | Call to Action | How to help/find Roy | 38:25–38:55 |

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Conclusion

"Dateline: Mystery on Lovejoy Road" masterfully unpacks the complexities of Roy Whited’s disappearance, providing equal weight to the factual investigation, the emotional tribulation of those left behind, and the persistent search for answers. Roy’s story is a microcosm of the pain and ambiguity felt by countless families of the missing—where hope, heartbreak, and dogged determination intermingle. The episode ends with a fresh call for tips from the public and a reminder of Roy’s enduring presence in the hearts of Sparta, Tennessee.

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Tip Line: If you know anything about Roy Whited’s disappearance, call the White County Sheriff's Office: 931-836-2700.
For photos and more, visit: datelinemissinginamerica.com

Transcript

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Tucked into the rolling hills and valleys of middle Tennessee is Sparta, a rural community where neighbors aren't strangers. And many who live here see each other every week at church. For almost a decade. At the Derosset Church of Christ, gospel music and the sermons of pastor Roy Whited made the Sunday morning service soar.

[Doug Watts]

He was a good preacher, you know, he had the way with the word.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Doug Watts says Roy is the reason he started going to church again more than 20 years after he'd quit.

[Doug Watts]

I told him he did it, and he said, no, God done it. I said, he did it through you, you know? And I believe that.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

In the first week of May 2024, something happened in Sparta that seemed almost impossible to believe. That's when 64 year old Roy Whiteed vanished.

[Interviewer]

He's just gone like a puff of smoke, isn't he?

[Doug Watts]

Yes, sir. Just unbelievable.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

For White County Sheriff Steve Page, Roy's case is personal.

[Sheriff Steve Page]

Me and Roy are friends.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

The sheriff is as baffled as anyone else, wondering how anyone as recognizable as Roy could disappear in plain sight.

[Sheriff Steve Page]

I would dare to say 95% of the people in this county know Roy Whiteed. Or maybe even 100%.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

It is a mystery that has forced Roy's closest friends and family into the fellowship of the missing. It's a group no one chooses to join. Certainly not Roy's brother, Lynn Whitet.

[Lynn Whited]

I pray. I pray. I pray that he is somewhere and we will find him. Because otherwise, I have to think the worst.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

I'm Josh Mankiewicz, and this is missing in America, a podcast from Dateline. This episode is Mystery on Lovejoy Road. Please listen closely because you or someone you know may have information that could help Roy's family and friends find the answers they're still looking for. Lynn Whiteed says his big brother Roy was a local hero long before he took to preaching.

[Lynn Whited]

He was a teacher and got into coaching basketball and did really well at coaching basketball. They won the state championship two years.

[Interviewer]

Running, which is a pretty big deal in Tennessee.

[Lynn Whited]

It's a huge deal in Tennessee.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Tennessee's governor back then agreed. He signed a bill in 1999 congratulating the champion White county warriors and name checking coach Roy Whited. Coaching and teaching kept Roy busy, but apparently not busy enough. Barb Witzigman remembers the day he showed up at her real estate office, which also handles estate auctions.

[Barb Witzigman]

I was sitting behind my desk and this skinny little guy popped up and said, hi, I'm Roy Whited and I want to apprentice under your auctioneer.

[Interviewer]

Why did he want to be an auctioneer?

[Barb Witzigman]

Because Roy was loud. He didn't even need a microphone. You could hear him all over. He loved people, people loved him, and he loved antiques.

[Interviewer]

Was he one of those auctioneers that speaks at a hundred words a minute?

[Barb Witzigman]

Yep, yep, easy. Everybody loved to listen to him.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

That's Roy taking bids at one of their auctions.

[Interviewer]

So he came on as an apprentice. It sounds like he worked out.

[Barb Witzigman]

Oh, definitely. He was like a son to me and he called me his second mom.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Roy eventually secured his Realtor's license, retired from teaching, and bought a stake in Barb's business. The apprentice was now a partner, but his brother says it wasn't long before Roy got the call to use his powerful voice in a different way. Middle aged and married with two young sons, Roy went back to the classroom, this time as a student.

[Lynn Whited]

He went to night school and online classes and got his divinity degree and started preaching.

[Interviewer]

Kind of a transition for him, wasn't it? Did anybody say to him, why do.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

You want to start preaching now?

[Lynn Whited]

Not really. He fell right into the role. He was very biblically based. It was natural transition as far as I was concerned.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Roy became a pastor at Derosset Church of Christ, preaching on weekends, selling real estate during the week, and in between, making time for congregants who needed a sympathetic ear and some guidance.

[Barb Witzigman]

People would stop in daily that went to his church to talk to him. He was just that, that type of guy.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Barb says. Roy counseled a lot of people in the community and always made time for anyone who needed his help. Then in 2021, it was Roy who needed to lean on others. When his marriage of more than 30 years ended. Roy's sons were 17 and 22 at the time.

[Lynn Whited]

It was painful for Roy. It hurt the children, the two boys.

[Barb Witzigman]

It was a very bitter divorce. I went through a lot with him.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Doug Watts was also there for Roy during that rough time.

[Doug Watts]

He needed a place to stay and I said, well, I'm thinking about buying this place next door. He said, well, if you buy it, I want to rent it. So I bought it and they rented it. And he was my next door neighbor and the best friend too.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Roy's rental on Lovejoy Road was convenient, just a couple of miles from his church. Doug is a song leader there and on Sundays they both get there early before Bible study and before the 10am service. It gave them time to talk. Except on Sunday, May 5, 2024, when Doug walked through the church door around 8:30am Roy was not there. Then his phone rang. It was Doug's sister in law who lives across the street from Roy.

[Doug Watts]

She said, I think something's wrong with Roy's because his truck hadn't been moved all weekend. She said, I've called him and I went over and knocked on the door and beat on the bedroom window. He just won't come out.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Doug did not hesitate. He drove straight over to Roy's place, just as his sister in law had said. Roy's truck was parked in the driveway. The door to the house was locked.

[Doug Watts]

I had a key and as I was going in I just called his phone and you could hear it ringing in the house. And of course we hollered for him.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

There was no answer. And Doug got an awful feeling.

[Doug Watts]

And the first thing I thought, oh no, he's. He's dead in here.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

To his great relief, Roy was not lying dead inside the house. To his great concern, he was not there at all.

[Doug Watts]

His phone was sitting right beside his bed, you know, charging bed didn't look like it been slept in. It was made up.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Doug did not see anything that alarmed him. In fact, nothing appeared to be out of place. Roy's sermon notes were on a table.

[Doug Watts]

House looked normal, the house looked normal.

[Interviewer]

Except no Roy.

[Doug Watts]

Yeah, right, exactly.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

When Doug took a closer look at Roy's truck, he saw nothing suspicious. It was unlocked and the keys were in the cup holder. Doug says Roy routinely kept his house and truck keys there. Otherwise he was always losing them. Even with no obvious signs of trouble, Doug was certain about one thing and it was alarming. Roy would never miss a service he was scheduled to preach. So Doug called Roy's sons and then dialed 91 1. Soon Roy's truck would be seen in a completely different light by the county sheriff.

[Sheriff Steve Page]

We don't know that Roy drove the truck home. Somebody did. We don't know that that was rowing.

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[Josh Mankiewicz]

On May 5, 2024, when White County Sheriff Steve Page arrived at Roy Whitehead's house on Lovejoy Road, he saw no sign of a struggle anywhere in the.

[Sheriff Steve Page]

House, in the driveway. Because we look for all that in the yard. Roe either never was there or Roy went willingly.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

One thing was crystal clear. The 64 year old pastor should have been at church leading the morning service and he was not. His truck was parked in the driveway and his wallet was gone. So it was possible Roy went for a walk and ran into trouble. Roy did have high blood pressure, so a stroke heart attack was not out of the question. The sheriff issued a silver alert for a senior in danger and deputies began searching a 3,300acre hunting property behind Roy's house. State police and other agencies assisted with a helicopter and search dogs.

[Sheriff Steve Page]

We went all over that land that day, looking and looking and looking, and with no avail. We didn't find anything.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

News spread fast that the popular pastor was missing.

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[Josh Mankiewicz]

Around 200 people turned out to Help with a second search of that hunting property. They covered the rugged terrain on horseback, on four wheelers, and on foot and with drones, but found no trace of Roy. Sheriff Page says trail cameras throughout the property also did not pick up any sign of him.

[Sheriff Steve Page]

So therefore, at that point, we didn't believe he's back there.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

The search shifted to shoe leather detective work. Roy lived alone, and it was not clear how long he'd been missing. Investigators talked with his neighbors, his co workers, and his relatives, and bit by bit, they formed a timeline. On Friday morning, May 3rd, Roy went to work as usual at tristar real estate. He left the office around 2pm to appraise a property about 15 miles away. Sheriff Page's deputies spoke with the couple he met there.

[Sheriff Steve Page]

And according to what they've told us, you know, Roy appeared fine. He got in his truck and left from the property.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

At about 3:45pm Roy's truck turned into his driveway. A neighbor's security camera recorded it. The quality of the video is not good enough to tell who's driving.

[Interviewer]

You can see that's Roy's truck, but you can't see if that's Roy in it.

[Sheriff Steve Page]

That's correct. So you can't say it was Roy.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

It seemed a big clue. But was it? After making the turn, Roy's truck continued up his long driveway out of the camera's view. Whoever got out of the truck can't be seen.

[Interviewer]

Any evidence either way that the truck left his driveway after that camera sees it being parked there?

[Sheriff Steve Page]

None.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Sheriff Page says his deputies talked with every resident on Lovejoy Road. One neighbor claimed he saw Roy walking near his house that Friday afternoon, Though it's not clear when that possible sighting was.

[Sheriff Steve Page]

There are some variances in the times that he said he's seen him.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

After that, Roy's timeline seemed to stop. No one reported seeing or hearing from him on Saturday, May 4th. Barb Witzigman, Roy's close friend and business partner, says she called him multiple times on Saturday and he did not answer.

[Barb Witzigman]

But that wasn't unusual because if he was preparing his sermon, you know, he didn't answer the phone.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Still, Roy did not respond to the messages she left. And Barb says that was unusual because.

[Barb Witzigman]

He always called me back.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

So maybe Roy was already missing on Saturday, Sheriff Page wondered. Maybe he never came home at all.

[Sheriff Steve Page]

He may have stopped and talked to somebody and something went bad there. Who knows? And then this person might have drove the truck home.

[Interviewer]

And somebody drives his truck home sort.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Of to cover their tracks. Yeah, if you're a pastor, you are never really off the clock, especially in a town of fewer than 5,000 souls, many of whom you know by name. Barb Witzigman wonders if Roy's generous spirit might have something to do with his disappearance. What if she imagined someone showed up at Roy's house and they went somewhere together?

[Interviewer]

The idea that he might say, let's go for a drive and talk about whatever's bothering you, that's not out of the question.

[Barb Witzigman]

No. Because Roy never met a stranger.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Could Roy's pickup, a red Chevy Silverado, be the key to solving his case? Well, maybe it could have been, but the sheriff says, unfortunately, it could not be processed for prints or DNA.

[Sheriff Steve Page]

By the time law enforcement got to the house, there were already people in the house, and people had already been in his truck, you know, looking for him, trying to figure out what happened.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

This is not unusual. People who discover that someone is missing are not necessarily thinking about preserving potential evidence. It might have been possible early on to dust the truck and exclude fingerprints or DNA from people who touched it that morning. But those tests can be expensive. Sheriff Page said after Roy went missing, his younger son came and got the truck. Investigators considered another possible explanation. Could Roy have just wanted to disappear? Agents from the tbi, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, checked cameras and flight logs at nearby airports, but found no evidence of Roy coming or going. They also analyzed Roy's electronics.

[Interviewer]

Anything on his phone or computer point you in any direction?

[Sheriff Steve Page]

No. We done a thorough search of both. Nothing.

[Interviewer]

There's no. There's no text message saying, you know, meet me at three in the morning?

[Sheriff Steve Page]

No. And we had that phone downloaded by the tbi.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Soon, another clue surfaced, one that seemed to suggest Roy did make IT home on May 3. Electricity records for Roy's house showed that at midnight on that Friday, his power usage dropped to a level consistent with just the refrigerator running. Roy's brother Lynn, says that tracks with Roy's normal routine.

[Lynn Whited]

That was Roy's habit. He would study and he would read, and about midnight, he would go to bed and. And that's when he would turn all the lights off and everything.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

The clue really came the next morning when the power usage did not go back up. It stayed at that minimal level.

[Lynn Whited]

That's what just doesn't make any sense. If he got up that morning, he would at least, you know, he turned lights on, he'd made coffee, fixed his breakfast, and the power would have went up from there.

[Interviewer]

But it doesn't happen.

[Lynn Whited]

It doesn't happen.

[Interviewer]

Which would suggest something happened there overnight.

[Lynn Whited]

Right.

[Interviewer]

Except when you look at the house, there's no sign of anything.

[Lynn Whited]

Nothing was out of place.

[Interviewer]

His cell phone is sitting there charging.

[Lynn Whited]

Correct. On his nightstand.

[Interviewer]

His sermon is laid out.

[Lynn Whited]

Yep. What would have gotten him out of the house at that hour? I don't know.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Sheriff Page and Roy are friends and fellow car buffs. Two weeks before Roy went missing, they caught up over dinner at the annual Rod run, a car show in eastern Tennessee.

[Sheriff Steve Page]

He was Norma Roy, you know, laughing, cutting up with me. And he looked tired, like he always does. We had a good supper together and said our goodbyes.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Now, Sheriff Page was replaying that day, looking for signs he might have missed. And he was hearing competing accounts from the people closest to Roy. Lynn Whitehead says the week before his brother went missing, they talked almost every day. Roy was helping Lynn sell a piece of property he owns.

[Lynn Whited]

He was excited about what he could do for me and how he could help me. And nothing ever to me came out that he was depressed or that he was worried or anxious.

[Interviewer]

And you've probably examined all of those conversations a bunch of times.

[Lynn Whited]

Multiple times, yes.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Lynn's description of Roy's state of mind was consistent with that of the sheriff, but others had a very different impression. Listen to Doug Watts, Roy's next door neighbor and best friend to him. Roy seemed stressed in the days before he went missing.

[Doug Watts]

He was worried about one of his sons when he was tore up. I mean, he's not a bad boy. He just was worried about his future, you know?

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Doug says that like many parents, Roy wanted to make sure his younger son was on track with his career. He was also concerned about a friend who was going through a divorce. Other people's problems weighed on Roy. For a pastor, it is an occupational hazard.

[Doug Watts]

I hate to use the word burned out, but I believe he was ready to maybe step back, you know?

[Interviewer]

You think handling other people's problems had finally taken a toll that.

[Doug Watts]

That way? Oh, yes.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

There was something else to consider. At the time of his disappearance, a rough patch in Roy's personal life was still pretty fresh. In a case like his, a bitter divorce naturally comes under scrutiny, and Roy's definitely qualified.

[Lynn Whited]

The divorce was very nasty. It was painful for Roy. It hurt the children, the two boys. They've pretty much sided with the mother.

[Interviewer]

It was legally resolved as far as, you know?

[Lynn Whited]

Yes, yes.

[Interviewer]

Maybe. Maybe some feelings were left unresolved, but nobody out to hurt anybody as a result of that, right?

[Lynn Whited]

I would say yes.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

The divorce became final almost two years before Roy's disappearance. Barb saw up Close. The fallout from the split.

[Interviewer]

That divorce left some people feeling bruised. Any chance that his disappearance is related to that, in your opinion?

[Barb Witzigman]

I don't think so. My gut says no. But who knows?

[Interviewer]

Was this infidelity or was this.

[Barb Witzigman]

No, no, nothing like that. No, they just didn't get along.

[Interviewer]

There's no love triangle here.

[Barb Witzigman]

No. No, nothing. No.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

For law enforcement and for everyone who loved Roy, an obvious question was who would want to hurt him or who might stand to benefit from his death. Lynn told us Roy said he had a life insurance policy, but no one has been able to find it in Roy's house or his office. And there was another crucial question. Where might this clue fit into the picture? It turns out Roy's wallet wasn't the only thing missing from his house.

[Sheriff Steve Page]

There was a gun box under his bed that was empty, suggesting that he.

[Interviewer]

Might have taken it with him.

[Sheriff Steve Page]

Well, he was. Roy was known to carry a gun.

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[Josh Mankiewicz]

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[Josh Mankiewicz]

In Sparta, Tennessee, Roy Whited was long known as the quintessential people person. Someone who could and did talk to anyone. The gregarious guy who loved to tell stories when he wasn't listening to others tell theirs. Perhaps that's why Doug Watts has such vivid memories of a very dark chapter in Roy's life. His divorce.

[Doug Watts]

Yeah, it was a disaster to him. He felt like I didn't even want to go to walmart. I was just ashamed to go to town, you know, he felt that way.

[Interviewer]

He felt ashamed.

[Doug Watts]

He did, but, I mean, his wife wanted it, he didn't want it. And I don't know why. You don't know anybody to live with him. I can't blame either one.

[Interviewer]

Whatever the cause was, he was pretty hurt by that.

[Doug Watts]

Yeah. Oh, yeah, definitely.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

At the time of his disappearance, Roy had been divorced for 21 months. Had his emotional wounds healed, or were they just one more stressor in his life? Had it all just become too much for Roy? Could suicide explain his disappearance? Sheriff Steve page says when deputies search Roy's house, A gun box under his bed was empty, suggesting that he might.

[Interviewer]

Have taken it with him.

[Sheriff Steve Page]

Roy was known to carry a gun because, you know, he was. He was into real estate. And I'm sure there were times when he had quite a bit of money with him. Like a lot of people in this county, they carry guns.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Sheriff page says that gun has not been found, but he doesn't think Roy's case is a suicide.

[Sheriff Steve Page]

I don't believe the man killed himself. I just don't. I mean, he's. He was a preacher, you know. Not to say preachers don't kill themselves sometimes or commit suicide. I'm sure they do. But I don't see Roy as well as I knew him and knew the kind of man he was doing something like that to himself.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

And you would have found him.

[Sheriff Steve Page]

I would have found him.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

The end of summer was approaching, and the man who once seemed to be everywhere in Sparta, Tennessee, selling houses, overseeing auctions, delivering sermons was still nowhere to be found. Roy whitet had been missing for more than four months. On September 17, 2024, around 100 people gathered in the white county high school gym for an update on his case. It was Roy's 65th birthday. Among the crowd were some of the basketball players he'd coached more than two decades earlier. Sheriff Steve page was also there, and so was a private investigator. Roy's brother Lynn had hired him because.

[Interviewer]

You thought the sheriff wasn't working on it, or you just thought I felt.

[Lynn Whited]

We were getting nowhere. Every time I ask, every time I made a phone call, we have nothing new And I just. I couldn't. I can't deal with it.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

I hear that a lot from the families of the missing, and I do understand where they're coming from. I'm also familiar with a hard truth about this kind of case. As I told Lynn, one of the.

[Interviewer]

Problems with all missing persons investigations is you can get all the cameras in the area, and you can talk to everybody who knew the person, and you can check the camera at the bus station and the airport, and you can look at their passport and see whether they left the country. You know, credit card activity and bank activity and their phone and things like that. But if all of that goes nowhere and nobody's seen the person, those investigations tend to slow down.

[Lynn Whited]

Right. And that's exactly what's happened.

[Interviewer]

The sheriff's a friend of Roy's.

[Lynn Whited]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

I mean, this certainly isn't any other. Just any other case to him.

[Lynn Whited]

I would hope not.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

This dynamic happens pretty often between families and law enforcement. Sheriff page says he gets that Lynn and others in the community may feel frustrated, but his priority is getting to the truth of what happened to Roy.

[Sheriff Steve Page]

Everybody wants me to tell everything, but I can't do that. I don't want to jeopardize the case, you know, and they need to understand that is me doing my job.

[Interviewer]

In law enforcement, you see a lot of terrible things. But that's different from looking for somebody.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Who'S a friend of yours, isn't it?

[Sheriff Steve Page]

Absolutely. I've been looking every day since. We have a case file that's about a foot thick.

[Interviewer]

What's your gut tell you? Is Roy still alive?

[Sheriff Steve Page]

My heart hopes so, but my gut says I don't know because it's been too long. There's too many cameras in the world. There's a lot of people that's looking for him.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

The private investigator Lynn hired told us his investigation has convinced him Roy is not just a missing person, he is a homicide victim. The investigator says he's spoken with multiple people who had dealings with Roy and believes there's a lot more to Roy's case than just one person going missing. That is strictly his opinion. And so far, he admits he does not have the proof to back it up. However, he has heard some stories, including one Doug watts is familiar with. On Friday, May 3, the last day anyone reported seeing Roy, Doug got the sense Roy needed a friend to confide in, so he drove over to tristar real estate.

[Doug Watts]

He had called me earlier, and he was kind of worked up over trying to help somebody, you know, and. And I decided to just go up to his office. And so I went up there and talked to him a little.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Doug says Roy was upset about a real estate transaction involved involving a family in the community. Roy thought it looked as if a signature might have been forged. In his capacity as a minister and friend, he was helping to sort out that dispute.

[Doug Watts]

He was trying to deal with it. I don't know to what extent.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

After talking with Roy for about a half hour, Doug left the office.

[Doug Watts]

I wasn't really worried too much about him because I've seen him get stressed before. He's one that tries to go at everything 150%, you know.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Roy's business partner, Barb Witzigman, was aware that Roy was troubled by that property dispute.

[Barb Witzigman]

He was a little depressed, a little upset. He had talked about it all week.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

If Roy's suspicions were correct and someone had forged a signature, that would be a crime. Roy might have felt it his duty to report that to police. Could someone involved in that real estate deal have wanted Roy to just mind his own business? Barb says the real estate issue was resolved three months after Roy's disappearance, just as he had hoped. We asked Sheriff Page if he had spoken to the people involved in that dispute. He declined a comment. However, after a year of investigating the case, the sheriff does have an unofficial theory.

[Sheriff Steve Page]

I think somebody has probably, I mean, this is just speculation, picked him up and taken him somewhere and who knows what happened from there.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

That scenario sounds a lot like the one Barb Witzigman described to.

[Barb Witzigman]

Since his truck was there, I figured maybe somebody pulled up that he knew and he got in the car with him and from there it went south.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Maybe someone didn't take kindly to the guidance Roy was known for giving. Or maybe someone carried a grudge about a business deal or something completely unrelated to any of the many hats Roy wore. At this point, it's all speculation. The sheriff says he's found no evidence of foul play. However, he also told me this.

[Sheriff Steve Page]

There's a few suspects, possible suspects, let me put it that way. Possible suspects in the case.

[Interviewer]

People who had an issue with Roy.

[Sheriff Steve Page]

Well, I don't know that I. I've heard it, but I don't know it. I've talked to a couple of those people and according to them, they didn't really have an issue.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

He is careful not to name any names. But one thing he is sure about is that someone somewhere holds the key to the truth.

[Sheriff Steve Page]

I believe somebody knows something. They just haven't come forward yet.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

In December 2024, seven months after Roy went missing, Roy's family and friends, with help from local churches, offered a $15,000 reward for information leading to his recovery. The rewards no longer in effect, and it didn't generate any tips.

[Interviewer]

It produced nothing.

[Sheriff Steve Page]

Nothing.

[Interviewer]

You'd think that would shake something loose if there were something to be shaken loose, right?

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Sheriff Page says he will not rest until he finds Roy.

[Interviewer]

You're not going to stop, are you? This was your friend.

[Sheriff Steve Page]

No, sir. No, sir. I will not stop.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Outside the Rossett Church of Christ, Roy Whited's smile beams from a yard sign, beseeching all who pass by to help find him. Several yards away, a portable basketball hoop stands at the edge of a driveway. Doug Watts says Roy bought it years ago for the local kids to use. There is a new pastor in the pulpit now, and Doug is grateful for that. Even so, there is a void.

[Doug Watts]

We all loved him and, you know, it's just. It's just different, you know, it's just the emptiness. But, you know, we have to move on.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

He's learned that moving on is not a simple thing. Not knowing what happened to Roy, the next door neighbor and friend Doug says he loved like a brother still haunts him.

[Doug Watts]

I think about it every day. You know, he was close. Sometimes you don't sleep. You wake up in the middle of night. First thing you think about, where is he? You know, you try to go through different scenarios and nothing makes any sense. Nothing.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Barb Witzigman is reminded of Roy's absence every time she walks into Tristar Real Estate. What's it been like to not have.

[Interviewer]

Him around for a year?

[Barb Witzigman]

It's been terrible. For a long time we couldn't go back in his office.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

She shared a story that she said captures what made Roy so special. It's about what he did when Barb's father died. And it still makes her smile.

[Barb Witzigman]

We're from Pennsylvania, and the day of the funeral, I was sitting in the chapel and I heard this commotion out front. And sure enough, Roy had flown in that morning to be with me. That's the kind of guy he was.

[Interviewer]

He was a good friend.

[Barb Witzigman]

Yes, very. And I miss him.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Lynn Whitehead has lost track of the number of times he's made the six hour drive to Sparta from his home in Montgomery, Alabama. He comes a couple of times a month and plans to keep doing so until Roy's case is solved.

[Lynn Whited]

We've done billboards, we've done over a hundred yard signs throughout four to five counties. I went and bought a phone just for anybody that would want to give an anonymous tip.

[Interviewer]

It feels like you and your family have done everything you can.

[Lynn Whited]

I don't feel that way because Roy's still not here.

[Josh Mankiewicz]

Here is how you can help. Roy Whited is 511 and 175lbs with brown eyes and auburn hair that is graying. He was 64 at the time of his disappearance in 2024 and he was wearing a beige shirt and either cowboy boots or tennis shoes. If you have any information on Roy's whereabouts, please contact the White County Sheriff's office at 931-836-2700. On our website, you can see photos of Roy. To learn more about other people we've covered in our Missing in America series, go to datelinemissinginamerica.com There you'll be able to submit cases you think we should cover in the future. Thanks for listening. See you Fridays on Dateline on NBC. Missing in America is a production of Dateline and NBC News. Kate Vidak is the producer of this episode, Marshall Hausfeld is the audio editor, Anna Turning is associate producer, Bradley Davis is senior producer, Paul Ryan is executive producer and Liz Cole is senior executive producer from NBC News. Audio Sound mixing by Bob Mallory and Katie Lau. Bryson Barnes is head of audio production. Production.

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