Harold Clark
Cliff Jones passed away in April 2009 after an illness that sent him to the hospital. I only met him once and he was nice enough to me so I have to say that up front.
I had heard he was a pretty dangerous man but my personal interaction with him did not bear that out at all.
Cliff lived on some property at the end of Hulon Street in Hope Mills. The property is walking distance from the Cotton Volunteer Fire Department on Calico Street. (This fact will make more sense as you read further). His land also included three or four other run down trailers and a small mobile home. A couple of guard dogs on chains keep the place somewhat safe for the folks living there. Get too close and they'll rip your head off - or at least they do an excellent job of making you think that.
Cliff is Jessica Kiser's grandfather and she lived for a while in one of the trailers on the same property.
I will get to Jessica in a future chapter. She is important because she claims she was at the trailer on Muscat the day Kent went missing and her story is similar in many respects to Heather's.
Heather Monroe-Thrash is not credible. However, if even a small percentage of what she says is true, then the Jacobs have hope of finding out what happened to Kent. That is why Jessica is important. She lends some credence to Heather's story.
Jessica once told me she felt completely safe in Hope Mills, even considering her lifestyle, because everyone in town knew that "my granddaddy will blow their head off" if they mess with me.
With that in mind, I went to visit Cliff a few years back.
He was out in his front yard working on his van. He was actually laying on the ground with his head up under the transmission as I approached.
As I said earlier, he was nice enough with me but basically just denied knowing anything about Kent's disappearance. This was my only interaction I have ever had with him and if it were just this, I never would even mention him on this website. But then look what actually happened:
Several years back Cliff himself approached one of the chiefs of the Cotton Volunteer Fire Department and actually told him that Kent was inside a refrigerator and buried somewhere on his property.
You are probably asking yourself the same question that we are: "Why on earth would Cliff say that?" Not only that - why would he confide this to a very responsible member of the Hope Mills community?
We wonder the same thing.
If it was true, than Cliff Jones just hand delivered a major break in Kent's case. If it was just nonsense - then why would Cliff just joke around with the Jacobs' emotions in such a cruel way? I don't get it.
The chief did the instant obvious thing and notified law enforcement right away. It is important to state here that the cops, for obvious reasons, do not discuss anything with me. I am sure they checked the lead out. I just do not know what the outcome was.
One other thing, I am told that Cliff once actually buried a bus on his property. Yes - if what I am being told is true - a bus caught on fire and rather have it towed away - he just bulldozed a huge hole in the ground and buried the bus.
Obviously, if he has the ability to bury a bus, than he can bury a refridgerator.
When I told Jessica and her mom, Kim, about this lead - they naturally acted shocked and said 'no way'. On a Sunday morning in February, 2010, they took me over to the property and walked me to a place in the woods adjacent to his property that used to house two small homes. The houses have since been torn down and woods have retaken the driveway. Nothing was found.
I had heard he was a pretty dangerous man but my personal interaction with him did not bear that out at all.
Cliff lived on some property at the end of Hulon Street in Hope Mills. The property is walking distance from the Cotton Volunteer Fire Department on Calico Street. (This fact will make more sense as you read further). His land also included three or four other run down trailers and a small mobile home. A couple of guard dogs on chains keep the place somewhat safe for the folks living there. Get too close and they'll rip your head off - or at least they do an excellent job of making you think that.
Cliff is Jessica Kiser's grandfather and she lived for a while in one of the trailers on the same property.
I will get to Jessica in a future chapter. She is important because she claims she was at the trailer on Muscat the day Kent went missing and her story is similar in many respects to Heather's.
Heather Monroe-Thrash is not credible. However, if even a small percentage of what she says is true, then the Jacobs have hope of finding out what happened to Kent. That is why Jessica is important. She lends some credence to Heather's story.
Jessica once told me she felt completely safe in Hope Mills, even considering her lifestyle, because everyone in town knew that "my granddaddy will blow their head off" if they mess with me.
With that in mind, I went to visit Cliff a few years back.
He was out in his front yard working on his van. He was actually laying on the ground with his head up under the transmission as I approached.
As I said earlier, he was nice enough with me but basically just denied knowing anything about Kent's disappearance. This was my only interaction I have ever had with him and if it were just this, I never would even mention him on this website. But then look what actually happened:
Several years back Cliff himself approached one of the chiefs of the Cotton Volunteer Fire Department and actually told him that Kent was inside a refrigerator and buried somewhere on his property.
You are probably asking yourself the same question that we are: "Why on earth would Cliff say that?" Not only that - why would he confide this to a very responsible member of the Hope Mills community?
We wonder the same thing.
If it was true, than Cliff Jones just hand delivered a major break in Kent's case. If it was just nonsense - then why would Cliff just joke around with the Jacobs' emotions in such a cruel way? I don't get it.
The chief did the instant obvious thing and notified law enforcement right away. It is important to state here that the cops, for obvious reasons, do not discuss anything with me. I am sure they checked the lead out. I just do not know what the outcome was.
One other thing, I am told that Cliff once actually buried a bus on his property. Yes - if what I am being told is true - a bus caught on fire and rather have it towed away - he just bulldozed a huge hole in the ground and buried the bus.
Obviously, if he has the ability to bury a bus, than he can bury a refridgerator.
When I told Jessica and her mom, Kim, about this lead - they naturally acted shocked and said 'no way'. On a Sunday morning in February, 2010, they took me over to the property and walked me to a place in the woods adjacent to his property that used to house two small homes. The houses have since been torn down and woods have retaken the driveway. Nothing was found.