Jaqleen Amber Grimes

Jaqleen Amber Grimes was reportedly last seen leaving a residence in the Black Pond community late on June 1, 2023. Authorities believe she entered an unidentified vehicle with an unknown man. Her phone and social-media records led investigators to several locations, but none led them to Jaqleen.

Someone reportedly saw Jaqleen Amber Grimes leave a house near Double Springs at 10:42 on the night of June 1, 2023.

According to information her family later gave investigators, the man who had been with Jaqleen said she walked away from his residence at that time.

Public statements from the Winston County Sheriff’s Office added another critical detail: investigators believed Jaqleen then entered an unidentified vehicle with a man whose identity was not publicly known.

After that, her trail disappeared.

Investigators obtained records connected to Jaqleen’s phone and social-media accounts. Messages directed them toward different locations. Reports of possible sightings arrived from nearby Alabama communities and from as far away as California.

Deputies followed those leads.

None produced Jaqleen.

More than three years later, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency continues to classify her case as active. No confirmed sighting, recovery or arrest has been publicly announced. (Northwest Alabamian)

The Black Pond Community

Jaqleen disappeared from the Black Pond area along Alabama Highway 195 north of Double Springs.

Black Pond is a rural Winston County community surrounded by wooded land, county roads, scattered homes and routes leading toward other parts of northwest Alabama. Highway 195 connects Double Springs with Haleyville and passes through areas where a person could travel toward Lawrence County, Franklin County or the Bankhead National Forest region.

ALEA’s official notice provides only the broadest account. It says Jaqleen left the Highway 195 area on June 1, 2023, and did not return. Her direction of travel is officially listed as unknown. (ALEA)

The Winston County Sheriff’s Office later narrowed the last-known area to Black Pond.

Sheriff Caleb Snoddy told the Northwest Alabamian that investigators believed Jaqleen had entered an unidentified vehicle with an unknown male. The publicly available reporting does not describe the vehicle’s make, model, color or direction of travel. (Northwest Alabamian)

That leaves the central image of the case frustratingly incomplete.

There was reportedly a vehicle.

There was reportedly a man.

Neither has been publicly identified.

A Woman With Distinctive Tattoos

Jaqleen was in her early thirties when she vanished. Public sources differ slightly on whether she was 33 or 34 at the time, but ALEA currently calculates that she would be 37 years old. She is described as approximately 5 feet 2 inches tall and 110 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. (Charley Project)

The Charley Project lists several distinctive tattoos:

• Grateful Dead bears around one ankle
• Stars behind one ear
• A bullet tattoo on a pinky finger

Those details could be important if Jaqleen encountered medical personnel, was seen under another name or was found in circumstances where ordinary identification was unavailable. (Charley Project)

Her case is listed under ALEA number 202306000016. (ALEA)

The Final Reported Time

One of the few precise times in the public record came from Jaqleen’s family.

Chief Deputy Jacob Eward told the Northwest Alabamian that family members said a man had reported seeing Jaqleen leave his house at 10:42 p.m. on June 1. (Northwest Alabamian)

The public reporting does not identify that man or explain his relationship with Jaqleen.

It does not say whether investigators independently verified the time through surveillance footage, messages, telephone activity or another witness.

It also does not explain what happened between her departure from the residence and the reported entry into the unidentified vehicle.

Did the man watch Jaqleen get into it?

Did another witness see the vehicle?

Was the conclusion drawn from a message she sent?

Did investigators identify the driver privately but withhold the name?

Or does “unknown male” mean authorities truly did not know who he was?

Those distinctions are important, but the publicly available statements do not answer them.

The Unidentified Vehicle

The vehicle may be the most important missing piece in Jaqleen’s timeline.

A car can transform a local disappearance into a much wider search almost immediately.

From Black Pond, Jaqleen could have been driven toward Double Springs, Haleyville, Russellville, Moulton, Jasper, Birmingham or any number of rural areas in between.

If investigators do not know what vehicle she entered, they cannot easily trace license-plate readers, fuel purchases, traffic cameras or witness sightings.

The public was not provided a description to look for.

No agency announcement reviewed for this article identifies:

• The vehicle’s color
• Its body style
• Whether Jaqleen entered willingly
• Whether she knew the driver
• Whether anyone else was inside
• Where it traveled after leaving the Black Pond area
• Whether the vehicle has ever been located or examined

It is possible investigators know more than they have disclosed.

But from the public’s perspective, Jaqleen’s last reported movement is attached to a vehicle no one can name.

Her Phone and Social-Media Records

Investigators did not rely only on witness statements.

The sheriff’s office obtained multiple search warrants involving Jaqleen’s phone and social-media accounts. Eward said investigators learned information from those records and found messages that directed them toward different areas. (Northwest Alabamian)

That statement indicates Jaqleen was communicating with people or discussing locations close to the time she vanished.

The records may have shown:

• Who she planned to meet
• Whether she requested a ride
• Where she intended to stay
• Whether she expressed fear
• Whether she discussed leaving Winston County
• Which accounts remained active after the last reported sighting
• Whether another device later accessed her profile

None of those details has been released publicly.

Investigators may be withholding them because the messages identify people who have not been charged or contain information needed to evaluate future statements.

The records apparently created leads.

They did not create a publicly confirmed destination.

Searches in Different Areas

The messages and tips sent investigators beyond Black Pond.

By August 2023, the sheriff’s office said searches were continuing and every lead was being checked. Potential sightings had been reported in Russellville, Lawrence County, Birmingham and as far away as California. None had been confirmed. (Northwest Alabamian)

A possible sighting does not always come from someone who knows the missing person.

It may begin with a photograph shared online or a stranger who resembles the person in a store, parking lot or homeless encampment.

Investigators then have to compare facial features, tattoos, dates, travel possibilities and surveillance footage.

The distance of the reported sightings illustrates how quickly a missing-person investigation can expand.

If Jaqleen left voluntarily with someone she knew, she could have traveled far from Winston County.

If she was harmed shortly after entering the vehicle, distant sightings could pull attention away from the area where the answer actually lies.

The publicly available evidence does not establish either possibility.

The Lawrence County Search

One of the more unusual leads came through Jaqleen’s family from a person claiming psychic knowledge.

The person supplied detailed geographic coordinates in Lawrence County and claimed Jaqleen was dead and buried in a shallow grave near a fork in a road.

Sheriff’s investigators Josh Bennett and Eric Faith traveled to the Town Creek area and located the fork described in the tip. They spent more than half a day conducting a grid search of surrounding farmland.

They found no disturbed ground and no sign of Jaqleen. (Northwest Alabamian)

Psychic claims are not reliable evidence.

The importance of the episode is not that the tip was credible. It is that the sheriff’s office publicly used it to demonstrate how broadly investigators were checking information supplied by Jaqleen’s family.

Eward said deputies wanted the public to understand that work was occurring behind the scenes, even when searches produced nothing.

The Lawrence County operation ended with a negative result.

It did not resolve where the messages from Jaqleen’s phone had pointed or whether another location remained significant.

Another Disappearance Five Days Later

Five days after Jaqleen vanished, another Double Springs resident disappeared from the same general part of Winston County.

Joshua Chester Flanagin was last seen on June 6, 2023, near Highway 195 and County Road 6. He may have been living with a condition affecting his judgment. Witnesses reported possible sightings of Joshua walking along the highway and possibly entering a maroon vehicle. His phone was later found in the Black Pond area. (ALEA)

The proximity in time and place naturally caused people to question whether the cases were connected.

The Winston County Sheriff’s Office publicly said it had no evidence linking the two disappearances. (Northwest Alabamian)

That distinction must remain clear.

Jaqleen and Joshua were both from Double Springs.

Both disappeared in early June.

Both were connected in some way to Highway 195 and the Black Pond area.

But similarity is not evidence of a common cause.

Investigators treated them as separate cases unless evidence showed otherwise.

Searches Without a Public Result

The sheriff’s office said it devoted substantial manpower to both investigations.

Officers followed reports of sightings, coordinated with other agencies and examined available electronic information. Eward acknowledged the frustration felt by the families and public but said investigators were working every lead they received. (Northwest Alabamian)

No public search map has been released for Jaqleen’s case.

It is unclear whether investigators searched:

• The immediate property where she was last reportedly seen
• Roadside areas along Highway 195
• Nearby ponds or waterways
• Abandoned homes or outbuildings
• Sections of Bankhead National Forest
• Properties connected to people in her messages
• Vehicles associated with her final contacts

Public silence does not mean those searches never occurred.

It means they cannot be independently reconstructed from available reports.

No Confirmed Contact

The Charley Project states that after entering the unidentified vehicle, Jaqleen was never heard from again. The organization added her case file in January 2026, relying on ALEA, local reporting and missing-person advocacy sources. (Charley Project)

No public source reviewed for this article reports:

• A call from Jaqleen
• A text confirmed to have been written by her
• Bank or debit-card activity
• A confirmed social-media login
• A hospital encounter
• A traffic stop
• A verified sighting after June 1

The absence of publicly reported activity does not necessarily mean investigators found none.

Agencies sometimes withhold financial or digital information while trying to determine whether someone else used an account.

But more than three years without confirmed personal contact makes a temporary voluntary absence increasingly difficult to explain.

No Public Declaration of Foul Play

Unlike some missing-person cases, the Winston County Sheriff’s Office has not publicly declared that Jaqleen was killed.

No person has been publicly named as a suspect or person of interest.

No crime scene has been announced.

No remains or personal belongings have been publicly identified as hers.

There is also no public indication that she was experiencing a mental-health crisis, planning to disappear or attempting to sever contact with everyone she knew.

The circumstances remain concerning because she reportedly entered an unidentified vehicle and then vanished.

Concern, however, is not proof of homicide.

Her case remains officially classified as missing. (ALEA)

The Man at the House

The unnamed man who reportedly last saw Jaqleen is an obvious source of information, but the public should not automatically transform him into a suspect.

He may have cooperated fully.

Investigators may have confirmed his account through electronic evidence.

He may have known nothing about the vehicle or driver after Jaqleen left.

The public reporting does not say.

It would be irresponsible to search social-media discussions for his identity and then imply that he caused her disappearance.

The legitimate questions concern his observations:

• Why was Jaqleen at the residence?
• How long had she been there?
• What was her emotional and physical condition?
• Did she arrange a ride before leaving?
• Was anyone communicating with her?
• Did she say where she was going?
• Did the man see her enter the vehicle?
• Did he recognize the driver?
• Why was 10:42 p.m. remembered so precisely?

Those answers may exist in the investigative file.

They have not been provided publicly.

The Driver

If Jaqleen entered a vehicle, the driver may be the last known person to have seen her.

That person could be entirely innocent.

Jaqleen might have asked a friend, acquaintance or informal ride provider to collect her. The driver may have dropped her at another residence and assumed someone else later reported that information.

But after years of public attention, an innocent driver should have reason to clarify when and where Jaqleen left the vehicle.

If the driver has never been identified, several explanations are possible:

• The witness did not recognize him.
• The vehicle was too far away or poorly illuminated.
• Jaqleen arranged the ride privately.
• The driver has refused to come forward.
• Investigators know his identity but have not disclosed it.
• The reported vehicle account was incomplete or mistaken.

The public record does not establish which is true.

What Can Be Established

The available sources support a limited but important set of facts:

• Jaqleen Amber Grimes disappeared from the Double Springs area on June 1, 2023.
• Her last-known area was along Highway 195 in the Black Pond community.
• Family members said a man reported that she left his house at 10:42 p.m.
• The Winston County sheriff said she was believed to have entered an unidentified vehicle with an unknown male.
• Investigators obtained search warrants involving her phone and social-media accounts.
• Messages found through that work led deputies to multiple areas.
• Possible sightings were reported locally and outside Alabama, but none was publicly confirmed.
• Searches were conducted, including an extensive unsuccessful search in Lawrence County.
• Authorities said they found no evidence connecting Jaqleen’s disappearance to Joshua Flanagin’s disappearance five days later.
• Jaqleen remains listed as actively missing by ALEA.
• No person has been publicly charged in connection with her disappearance. (Northwest Alabamian)

What Has Not Been Made Public

Public sources do not reveal:

• The identity of the man who last reportedly saw Jaqleen
• The address of the residence she left
• Why she was there
• Whether she left on foot or was picked up directly
• The identity of the driver
• A description of the vehicle
• Whether Jaqleen knew the driver
• Her intended destination
• The contents of her final messages
• Her phone’s final location
• Whether the phone was recovered
• Whether anyone accessed her social-media accounts afterward
• Whether her bank accounts showed later activity
• Which locations were identified through her messages
• Whether authorities suspect foul play
• Whether any person has been privately identified as a suspect
• Whether the case has produced new evidence since August 2023

Those gaps limit what can be stated responsibly.

The Questions That Remain

Why was Jaqleen at the Black Pond residence on June 1?

What happened before 10:42 p.m.?

Who arranged the vehicle?

Did Jaqleen send a message asking for a ride?

Did the driver contact her directly?

Was she alone when she entered?

What did the vehicle look like?

Where did it go?

Did Jaqleen reach another house or business?

What locations were identified in her phone and social-media records?

Why did none of the possible sightings produce a confirmed trace?

Was her phone switched off, destroyed or carried by someone else?

Did she have money, identification or clothing with her?

And does the person who drove away from Black Pond know that investigators still need an account of what happened next?

How Alabama Unsolved Classifies the Case

Jaqleen’s case should be classified as:

Active missing-person case, last seen in the Black Pond area of Winston County and believed to have entered an unidentified vehicle with an unknown man. Foul play has not been publicly confirmed or excluded.

That classification preserves the official status while acknowledging the concerning circumstances.

It does not imply that the unnamed man at the residence or unidentified driver committed a crime.

A Description Without a Destination

The details available to the public describe Jaqleen well enough to recognize her.

She is short, with brown hair and brown eyes.

Grateful Dead bears circle her ankle.

Stars are tattooed behind her ear.

A bullet appears on her pinky.

What the public was never given is a description of the vehicle that carried her away.

No color.

No model.

No license plate.

No confirmed driver.

No destination.

Jaqleen disappeared somewhere between the house she reportedly left at 10:42 p.m. and wherever that unidentified vehicle traveled next.

Investigators followed her messages.

They searched farmland.

They checked sightings from Russellville to California.

The answer may still be much closer to Black Pond.

Someone knew Jaqleen needed a ride.

Someone knew who came to get her.

And someone may have seen the vehicle moving along Highway 195 on the night of June 1, 2023.

Anyone with information about Jaqleen Amber Grimes should contact the Winston County Sheriff’s Office at 205-489-2115. Her ALEA case number is 202306000016. (ALEA)