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(NewsNation) — Jared McColloch disappeared while on a last-minute trip from Louisiana to Illinois. His truck and two dogs were recovered, but his disappearance remains a mystery.
A construction worker, McColloch was known to be as serious as he was silly, with his antics including the time he sampled ostrich food at an outing to a zoo near his Louisiana home or teasing his beloved dog with the sound of a newly repaired clock.
Jared McColloch disappears
When his oldest son needed help in Illinois, McColloch responded, rounding up his dogs and firing up his 2020 GMC truck for the more than 500-mile trip from Marion, Louisiana, to Sandoval, Illinois.
Tammie Reppond, McColloch’s mother, was on the road herself in November 2023. She didn’t know about her son’s last-minute trip but wasn’t surprised to find he took his dogs, Roxy May and Rusty, along for the ride.
After driving through the night, McColloch pulled into a gas station in Carmi, Illinois, on the morning of Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023.
After the pump gave him problems, he went inside to pay, his dogs remaining in the cab of the truck. After an uneventful exchange, McColloch went directly to the counter to pay in cash before returning to his truck and heading out.
But when he left the gas station, McColloch turned left, heading east and north, away from his destination.
At some point, McColloch’s truck drove across the Cannonball Bridge, a one-lane span built in the late 1800s that’s now equipped with a toll booth locals say is haunted.
The truck then crossed the Wabash River and headed into Knox County, Indiana. The next day, a passerby reported it.
The truck was out of gas, the ignition on and the battery dead, both doors open, and Roxy May and Rusty were waiting faithfully for McCulloch to return.
Deputies called Reppond with the news. At the time, McColloch was just about to be clear of five years of supervision following a five-year prison stay.
“Jared, he’s one of the brightest people I know,” Samantha Wilkinson, Jared’s cousin said.
Jared McColloch was driving to see his oldest child when he disappeared. (Tammie Reppond) 
Jared McColloch was accompanied by his dogs when he disappeared. (Tammie Reppond) 
Construction worker Jared McColloch was about to become a father again. (Tammie Reppond) 
Jared McColloch had just finished five years supervision following a prison sentence. (Tammie Reppond) 
Jared McColloch’s mother missed a text before he disappeared. (NamUs) 
Jared McColloch’s truck was driven from Illinois into Indiana. (NamUs) 
Jared McColloch stopped at a gas station before he disappeared. (NamUs) 
Jared McColloch’s family has searched for him for a year. (Tammie Reppond) 
Jared McColloch’s truck was found abandoned with his dogs inside. (Tammie Reppond) 
Jared McColloch’s parents have kept his phone turned on since he disappeared. (NamUs)
Wilkinson and others searched the areas where the Wabash and White rivers converge, not far from where his truck was recovered.
Searching for Jared McColloch
Reppond poured over cell phone records that she said show McColloch’s last phone calls came from his oldest son’s mother in the hours before his truck passed into Indiana.
She still laments an unreturned text.
“The text said ‘where is that?’ and I didn’t text him back because Jared always missent texts,” Reppond said. “So he sent me a lot of mistaken texts before, so I didn’t think about it at the time. I wish I had. I wish I had responded. I wish I’d called him. I’ll always regret that.”
Despite suffering from essential tremors, McColloch’s stepfather, Andy Reppond, also works to keep his case alive. He and his wife still pay for that cell phone.
“I do call it occasionally,” he said, “Send a text, but no reply.”
A possible sighting of Jared McColloch
McColloch’s dogs now live with the couple, two possible witnesses who can’t share what they know about their owner’s disappearance.
“The dogs may have been scratching on that back window in the dust. So, I mean, did something? Did they witness it? Or did they see something?” Tammy Reppond wonders. “You know, when they were just inside the truck and couldn’t help? I wish the dogs could talk. I really do.”
Reppond said she found a witness who saw her son looking frightened at a restaurant in San Francisville, Illinois, with two men sitting close to him.
The witness’ grandson pointed out the dogs waiting in the truck. The sighting aligns with cell phone records from before McColloch disappeared.
NewsNation spoke to the Knox County, Indiana, detective working the case. He said it is an active, open investigation, and there is little he can share.
Jared McColloch is 5 foot, 9 inches tall and around 179 pounds. He has blond hair and several tattoos. He was last seen wearing jeans, a light blue shirt, dark blue Sketchers and a brown Carhartt jacket. Anyone with information on him should contact the Knox County Sheriff’s Office.