Days before a Longview man was reported missing, he told police he was robbed and his wallet taken.
Ronnie Joe Gammage, 27, was reported missing by his mother Saturday after he didn’t answer her phone calls for four days.
Police confirmed Thursday that Gammage filed a police report Nov. 29 detailing an incident outside a convenience store in the 1900 block of Judson Road.
http://liarcatchers.com/missing_persons_investigations.html
In the report, Gammage told officers three people came up to him and said, “Give me your stuff,” according to police spokeswoman Kristie Brian.
“They got his property,” Brian said.
“There are three alleged (mugging) suspects. The suspects are unknown,” she said. “He said they just threatened him, so it would be a robbery.”
On Saturday, police located Gammage’s abandoned pickup — with a tire slashed — behind the Waffle House on Loop 281.
There is no sign of Gammage, who is disabled, officials and family said.
Brian said she did not see anything in the files of the Nov. 29 report and the Dec. 8 missing person report that linked the two incidents and declined to comment if police investigators are examining the report in connection to Gammage’s disappearance.
No person has been arrested or charged in connection with the robbery report that Gammage filed, Brian said.
However, Gammage’s mother, Frankie, who is offering $5,000 for information that leads to finding her son, said she believes the robbery is linked to his disappearance.
“He was mugged on Nov. 28 at a service station — right there from the apartments where he lived,” Frankie Gammage said. “He was on mental disability — and (he has) muscular dystrophy — he couldn’t run, he doesn’t know how to fight or protect himself. He didn’t have good judgement of people.”
Frankie Gammage said she can’t imagine why her son would vanish unless it was connected to the incident.
“Nobody that I knew would have wanted to hurt him… Everybody said how nice he was,” Gammage said.
Ron Gammage lives alone in Parkway Gardens apartments and is able to function in spite of his mental disability but is not employed, his mother said.
The towering 6-foot, 8-inch tall man, who is known for dressing in western attire, had a few places he frequented on a regular basis, including the Waffle House where his truck was found, Frankie Gammage said.
“It would have been easy for someone to follow him and see his pattern — where he went,” she said, adding that he ate at Waffle House at least four times a week.
“We have done the initial investigation. We dusted the truck for fingerprints and searched the surrounding area and woods. At this point we are putting it out there to the public and hoping someone has seen him,” Brian said.
Frankie Gammage said since realizing her son was missing, she has not left the telephone.
“I am hoping he is alive. My feelings are that he is not,” she said.
Police ask anyone with information on Ron Gammage’s whereabouts to call Detective David Cheatham at (903) 237-1147.
