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Roy Whited was a respected leader in his small town of Sparta, Tennessee, first as a champion-winning basketball coach and then as a beloved pastor.
In May 2024, Roy, a man who had a profound impact on many lives, mysteriously disappeared, leaving very few clues about where he might be, as reported in the latest installment of the Dateline: Missing in America podcast.
“I hope that he is out there somewhere and we can locate him, because if not, I have to imagine the worst,” said his brother, Lynn Whited, to Correspondent Josh Mankiewicz regarding the perplexing situation.
Who is Roy Whited?
Roy initially started his career as a teacher but earned recognition in the community as a high school basketball coach, where he led the team to achieve two state championships during his time there.
Roy, a man who loved people and wasn’t afraid of public speaking, next put his skills to use as an auctioneer and real estate agent, before adding pastor to his long list of accomplishments. As the leader of DeRossett Church of Christ, Roy was often the person others sought out for comfort and advice.
“People would stop in daily that went to his church to talk to him,” remembered Barbara Witzigman, who worked with him at Tri-Star Real Estate. “He was just that…type of guy.”
When did Roy Whited disappear?
Roy was known for being dependable, which made it all the more troubling when he failed to show up at the church on the morning of Sunday, May 5, 2024.
Doug Watts, Roy’s best friend and landlord, went to his home and used his keys to get inside, but he found no obvious signs of a struggle or Roy himself. Roy’s sermon notes for the week were left sitting on a table, and his phone was still left charging at his bedside.
“House looked normal,” Watts said.
Roy’s truck was also sitting in the driveway. It was unlocked and the keys were sitting in a cup holder, the same place he often stored them so he wouldn’t misplace them.
According to the White County Sheriff Steve Page, who is also a close friend of Roy’s, the 64-year-old was last seen two days earlier on Friday, May 3, 2024.
After spending the morning at Tri-Star Real Estate, Roy left to appraise a property about 15 miles away around 2 p.m. The real estate clients told Page that Roy seemed “fine” at the meeting before getting in his truck and driving away.
The truck was later seen on a neighbor’s surveillance camera pulling into Roy’s driveway that afternoon around 3:45 p.m., but it’s impossible to tell in the footage who is driving the vehicle.
“We don’t know that Roy drove the truck home. Somebody did. We don’t know that that was Roy,” Page said.
An electrical clue
In the aftermath of his disappearance, searchers combed through the 3,300-acre hunting property behind Roy’s house but found no sign of him there or anywhere else.
Authorities considered the possibility that Roy had just wanted to disappear, but the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation reported there was no evidence Roy had been to any of the nearby airports, nor did he use his phone or computer to conduct any searches that would suggest he planned to go away.
There was some evidence in his electricity records to suggest Roy had made it home that Friday afternoon. The records showed that the home had used normal power usage until it dropped off Friday after midnight, consistent with Roy’s normal routine.
“He would study and he would read. And about midnight, he would go to bed, and that’s when he would turn all the lights off and everything,” Lynn said.
The next morning, however, the electricity usage never went back up.
Roy’s friends, family and even Page himself have wondered whether someone may have dropped by the house, possibly seeking counsel, and Roy left in their vehicle, never to return again.
A painful divorce and missing gun
Investigators have also delved into Roy’s mental state at the time he disappeared. Lynn and Page both spoke with Roy not long before he disappeared and found nothing unusual about his demeanor, but Watts believed Roy had been stressed and “burned out” in the days leading up to the disappearance.
“He was worried about one of his sons. And he was tore up,” Watts said. “I mean, he’s not a bad boy. He was just worried about his future, you know.”
Roy was also dealing with the aftermath of a bitter divorce, after he and his wife of more than 30 years split up in 2021. His two sons were 17 and 22 at the time.
“The divorce was very nasty,” Lynn said. “It was painful for the boys. It hurt the children, the two boys. They’ve pretty much sided with their mother.”
But at the time he disappeared, the divorce had been final for 21 months.
Page said investigators were also troubled by the fact that a gun, normally kept in a box under Roy’s bed, had been missing from the home. According to Page, it was common for Roy to carry a gun so it may not be that unusual that he would have had it with him.
Page doesn’t believe his friend, who was a dedicated preacher, would have taken his life.
“I don’t believe the man killed himself. I just don’t,” he said. “I don’t see Roy, as well as I knew him and knew the kind of man he was, doing something like that to himself.”
Private investigator believes it’s a homicide
As the months continued to pass without any answers, Roy’s brother Lynn hired a private investigator.
The private investigator told Mankiewicz that he’s convinced Roy is not just a missing person, but a homicide victim — although he hasn’t found any concrete evidence to prove that theory.
Watts said that on the day before Roy disappeared, his friend had been upset about a real estate transaction in which he suspected someone had forged a signature
“He was trying to deal with it,” Watts said. “I don’t know to what extent.”
According to Witzigman, who also noticed Roy was stressed about the real estate matter, the real estate issue was resolved three months after he disappeared.
While Page declined to discuss too many specifics of the case, he told Mankiewicz there were “a few possible suspects” in the case.
“I believe somebody knows something,” he said. “They just haven’t come forward yet.”
Roy has been described as being 5’11” tall, weighing 175 pounds, with brown eyes and graying auburn hair. He was last seen wearing a beige shirt and either cowboy boots or tennis shoes. Anyone with information about the case is urged to contact the White County Sheriff’s Office at 931-836-2700.
