http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid =312630823
Details of Disappearance
Smith was last seen on March 10th when he visited his brother after work. He had been living in an apartment on Fulton Street in Wytheville prior to his disappearance. When searched nothing appeared to be missing from Smith’s apartment and his TV was left on and his car left unlocked.
http://www.nampn.org/hot/smith_israel.html
http://www.wsls.com/sls/news/local/new_river_valley/article/police_suspect_foul_play_in_case_of_missing_wythev ille_man/9788/
Police suspect foul play in case of missing Wytheville man
A Wytheville man is missing, and police say they suspect foul play.
28-year-old Israel Smith was last seen more than a month ago, on March 11th. His family filed a missing person’s report on March 23rd.
Debbie Bates usually talks to her son, Israel, several times a week. But says now she only needs one phone call to know that he’s all right. “All kind of things go through my mind from day to day minute to minute trying to hold out hope for a long time just waiting to hear some good news,” Debbie Bates told us.
Bates says her son doesn’t suffer from any medical condition and is very intelligent. She says he’s too smart to just disappear without telling anyone. An police agree. They started investigating last month.
“We’ve searched back roads, anything, anybody we could. People been on MySpace trying to find out anything from people that he had contact with maybe… My family hired a private investigator.”
His bosses at radio shack are also worried. “It’s totally out of character for him not to show up to work. He was always here. If he couldn’t be here, he called,” Charles May, the manager at the Radio Shack told us.
The store manager tells us they called Israel’s cell phone, sent text messages, even left voice mails, and still no word from Israel. That’s when the store owner called police.
They went to his apartment, on the corner of Fulton and 5th, to perform a welfare check. That’s where they found his SUV unlocked with the keys inside. His apartment was also unlocked and the television was on. All reasons that investigators, and his mother, suspect foul play.
“I wish we’d hear something..not a minute goes by I don’t wish we’d hear something good news. I want it to be good news.”
“If anybody out there knows anything please let us know.”
If you have any information about Israel Smith, you’re asked to call the Wytheville Police department, (276) 223-3300.
Most recent article- He still hasn't been found. although apparently someone that was involved with him that went missing at the same time has been found dead.
Missing man remains a mystery
Tue Jun 10, 2008 - 03:57 PM
By NATE HUBBARD/Staff
With Tuesday marking three months since Israel Ray Smith went missing, his mother, Debbie Bates, said she’s begun to deal with the possibility that she may never see him again.
“I’ve been trying to just continue going on each day, just hoping for answers,” Bates said Monday afternoon. “As time passes and time passes it just gets harder and harder.”
Smith, 28, disappeared on March 10 after finishing up a regular shift at his job with Wytheville’s Radio Shack outlet.
The Smyth County native had been living in an apartment on East Fulton Street in Wytheville prior to his disappearance.
When Wytheville Police Department investigators initially checked Smith’s apartment in March, nothing of note appeared to be missing and his car was found unlocked.
Capt. Rick Arnold of the WPD said Monday that there were no new updates in the case. “We’re just still considering it an ongoing investigation,” Arnold said.
On the Web site of the North American Missing Persons Network, a profile for Smith remained under a “Hot Cases” tab late Tuesday morning. The network, though, defines hot cases as being within three months of the person’s disappearance so Smith’s profile will likely be moved away from the prominent portion of the Web site within the next few days.
Although the police department’s investigation, which started about two weeks after Smith went missing, also is nearing the three-month threshold, Arnold said there still has been no solid evidence to suggest that Smith was harmed.
“There’s nothing that’s indicating foul play at this time,” the captain said.
But as she said when Smith first went missing, Bates remained convinced that her son couldn’t have simply up and left without a trace.
Smith’s own son, who lives in Smyth County with his mother, just turned 8, Bates said, and has been struggling with his dad’s disappearance.
Bates, who herself lives in Wythe County, said her grandson has been asking why he can no longer visit his daddy’s apartment and why his daddy wasn’t at his birthday party.
“He would never go off and leave his son,” Bates said about Smith.
And while Bates said she has remained in regular contact with WPD Investigator Gary Davenport, who is working the case and who she said conducted additional interviews within the last week, she added that her frustrations keep increasing as the days continue to pass without answers.
Arnold said missing persons cases are never closed until the return of the person or the discovery of a body, but at this point he said the department has exhausted its main sources on the Smith case.
“We’ve interviewed everyone that we can,” Arnold said, naming family, friends and co-workers of Smith as people that have been contacted.
Anyone with information regarding Smith’s disappearance or his current whereabouts should call Davenport at (276) 223-3307. Bates also encouraged people to call her at (276) 621-5255, (276) 780-1250 or (276) 239-0054 if they have any news about her son.
Bates said she’s been trying to live her life as normally as possible since Smith’s disappearance. But she said her strong outer shell has been crumbling lately.
When reached Monday, Bates said she had taken the day off from work as her emotions had become too much for her to give proper attention to her job. A day in May also was especially difficult as Bates said she had to clean out her son’s apartment and collect his belongings. She added that even seemingly innocuous landmarks cause her thoughts to darken as she now views such things as lakes and bridges as possible places where her son’s body could have been discarded if he was in fact harmed.
“I can’t really enjoy anything,” Bates said through sobs, catching her breath to add that the outpouring of support from family and friends during the agonizing past three months has been her only saving grace. “Every day it’s been hard to get out of bed and go to work.”
At this point, Bates said her hope that Smith will show up safe and sound has dwindled and she’s mostly resigned herself to “hoping and praying he wasn’t tortured.”
“This is constantly with me, 24/7, and I don’t sleep,” she said. “I just need some answers.”
Nate Hubbard can be reached at 228-6611 or [email protected].
http://www.swvatoday.com/comments/mi...ery/news/2833/
"Since change is constant, you wonder if people crave death because it's the only way they can get anything really finished." -Chuck Palahniuk
Originally Posted by Nancy Drew
I love everyone except Amy.Amy's taste > Tara's
http://www.swvatoday.com/comments/memorial_service_to_honor_missing_man/news/5006/
A service honoring the memory of Israel Ray Smith, a 29-year-old Wytheville man who vanished without a trace over a year ago, has been set. It will be held Saturday, April 18, at 11 a.m. at Door of Hope Fellowship, 878 Shuler Hollow Road in Chilhowie, with Pastor John Chapman officiating.
“It’s been over a year,” remarked Smith’s mother, Debbie Bates. “We’ve done everything we can as a family and there’s been no word from him. We want to do something to bring as much closure as we can.”
When Smith, an employee of Radio Shack in Wytheville, failed to arrive at work on March 10, 2008, his boss contacted the Wytheville Police Department. Smith’s apartment was unlocked as was his vehicle.
According to Capt. Rick Arnold, there is an ongoing investigation into Smith’s disappearance. It is no longer a primary investigation.
“That’s not to say we aren’t still concerned,” Arnold said earlier this week. “We’ve exhausted all avenues. We’ve not heard anything more.”
Bates said she has no contact with the police department since August 2008.
“I do think he’s dead,” Bates stated. “I never did think he was alive when no one in the family heard from him.”
The memorial service, she said, will give family and friends a chance to honor Smith and pay their respects.
“He was the oldest grandson,” his mother pointed out. “All the cousins looked up to him.”
Smith’s grandparents, Kyle and Joyce Sexton live in Smyth County. Smith’s older brother, Daniel Smith, resides in Wytheville.
I feel like I am from websleuths, bumping all these old threads. But I am trying to go through them all for updates
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/s/smith_israel.html
Here's the updated Charley Project link for his case: https://charleyproject.org/case/israel-ray-smith
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