Search for body is called off

By: John Hinton | JOURNAL REPORTER
Published: June 24, 2009

CRUMPLER

Investigators called off their search yesterday for the remains of an Ashe County man missing since Feb. 24, 2007, after a track hoe dug up about 100 feet of a paved road beside the North Fork of the New River.

Sheriff James Williams of Ashe County said they stopped the search under Smithey Road for Jimmy Blevins about 4 p.m. and have no plans to resume.

"I am disappointed that we didn't find anyone," Williams said of the search effort which took place off and on after starting Friday. "We had a credible lead, but we didn't find anyone.

Williams said he has no more leads as to the whereabouts of Blevins' remains.

"His body could there, we just missed it. We had good information to search for him there," Williams said.

Authorities say they suspect that Blevins was killed by his uncle, Freddie Hammer. Hammer is serving life in prison without the possibility of parole in Virginia after pleading guilty May 22 to killing three men on a Grayson County Christmas tree farm on Jan. 24, 2008.

The Ashe County Sheriff's Office has conducted three previous digs over the past 16 months, searching for Blevins' remains based on tips.

When Blevins disappeared from his trailer beside N.C. 16, he left the television on and chicken cooking in the crock pot. A witness said she saw Hammer pick up Blevins and drive off in Hammer's truck. That's the last time Blevins was seen.

Hammer has denied killing his nephew.

At the time Blevins disappeared, Smithey Road was a dirt road and the state was widening and paving it. Heavy construction equipment was parked nearby.

A witness reported seeing Hammer in the dark, aboard one of the pieces of equipment, which was running, Williams said.

Hammer, who ran a firewood business and worked as a handyman, was an experienced heavy-equipment operator.

Investigators were working on a theory that Hammer buried Blevins under the dirt road and then let the N.C. Department of Transportation pave over the site.

Investigators with the Ashe County Sheriff's Office and the State Bureau of Investigation walked Smithey Road with a professor from N.C. State University who operated ground-penetrating radar looking for anomalies in the soil.

Searchers formed a grid pattern and used those results, along with the witness's description, to target an area to dig.

The spot is near where the road starts to run beside the river.

The spot where they were digging is less than 2½ miles from the Riverside store where Jimmy Blevins' mother, Janet Blevins, works. Soon after Jimmy Blevins disappeared, Hammer came to visit Janet Blevins in the store. He walked past the missing persons flyers for Jimmy, and handed her $200 he had owed Jimmy.

Just before Christmas that year, Hammer visited Janet Blevins again, this time at her home. She said she begged Hammer to tell her where Jimmy Blevins was, but he would not.

Janet Blevins could not be reached yesterday to comment.

Hammer escaped the death penalty in connection with the Grayson County Christmas tree murders after entering a plea deal after investigators dug up the murder weapons and missing money inside a barn at a private campground where Hammer had a trailer in Cripple Creek, Va.

Hammer had told a fellow inmate where the items were buried.

Williams said he has no immediate plans to interview Hammer regarding Blevins' whereabouts.

■ John Hinton can be reached at 727-7299 or at jhinton@wsjournal.com.

■ Journal reporter Monte Mitchell contributed to this report.