Remains in car believed AWOL airman’s - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

Remains in car believed AWOL airman’s

Human remains have been found in the submerged car of a Barksdale Air Force Base sergeant missing a decade, base officials confirm. But Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Timmons’ status will remain AWOL pending identification.

Timmons, a former security squadron member who was in the 2nd Mission Support Squadron education office when he disappeared, was last seen Jan. 10, 1997 after bidding goodbye to roommates at his rented house in Broadmoor as he headed off for a night at the riverboat casinos.

His family has not seen or heard from him since, and no trace of him emerged until Bossier City Fire Department divers testing new sonar gear found his submerged car near the boat launch on Arthur Ray Teague Jr. Parkway Nov. 19. The car was recovered the following day.

Officials haven’t said what remains were found, and Bossier City officials initially said no human remains were found. But that was based on a preliminary investigation of the vehicle, which was quickly impounded and turned over to the military, Bossier City spokesman Mark Natale said.

Donald Timmons, the missing airman’s father, told The Times he learned Wednesday of the discovery.

“Information provided me yesterday is that sufficient evidence has been recovered to make identification possible using dental records,” Timmons said. “This is not to say that the procedure has been accomplished.”

Discovery of a Harrah’s boarding pass stamped 4:35 a.m. Jan. 11, 1997, indicated the airman returned home, but neither of his roommates saw him then, a story in The Times a month after his disappearance noted.

“He was going out on the town,” his father told The Times then. “We know he went to Harrah’s and another riverboat and later returned home.”

At stake with a redetermination of his status are benefits Jeffrey Timmons’ two minor children could have received had he died as the result of an accident. With his status as AWOL or as a deserter, no such benefits are available.

Five days after his disappearance, Timmons was declared absent without official leave, or AWOL. After 30 days, he was declared a deserter, Don Timmons told The Times last week.

Timmons said he thinks officials were too quick to declare his son AWOL first and then a deserter.

“That seems to be their default answer,” he told The Times. “It’s distressing to me. Those terms rob him of benefits of any kind, and robs his children of any benefits. In this country, we are innocent until proven guilty.”