A local woman best known for her love of local history and family trees is trying to find a man who was kidnapped in 1988.
Joanna Phillips was searching for the identity of a man whose remains were found in 1991 when she discovered the curious case of Joseph Leon Burris.
Burris, 25, was forcibly taken from his home near Chadbourn on Nov. 20, 1988, and has never been found. In 1990, Claudie Allen Jacobs of Bolton was found guilty of felonious restraint in the case, but found not guilty of kidnapping and false imprisonment, according to court documents and trial coverage. Jacobs was sentenced to three years in prison and served 5.5 months in prison.
Testimony showed that Jacobs suspected his wife was having an affair with Burris. Jacobs returned home from a bridge project in Tampa, Fla. around 3 a.m. on Nov. 20, 1988. Later that day Jacobs went to confront Burris before returning to work in Tampa.
Witnesses said Jacobs found Burris at home and forced him into a car at gunpoint. Burris was only wearing shorts at the time, according to testimony. Jacobs was driving a red Oldsmobile at the time, but witnesses said he traded the Olds for a pickup truck five days after the kidnapping.
Burris has never been seen again.
Jacobs was taken into custody by the FBI on federal charges of kidnaping and interstate flight in Tampa. Federal prosecutors opted to turn the case over to local authorities.
Media coverage from the time of Burris’ disappearance throughout the trial notes that the victim was never located. Jacobs did not reveal what happened to Burris between the kidnapping near Chadbourn and Jacobs’ arrest.
Burroughs was entered in the National Crime Information Center database as a missing person at the time of his disappearance.
Phillips said she has tried to get Burris listed in the NamUs program, a national clearinghouse that matches DNA from unidentified bodies with DNA samples from relatives of missing persons. NamUs requires the investigating law enforcement agency in any missing persons case to sign off on requests for testing. Phillips said she has repeatedly asked Sheriff W.R. “Bill” Rogers and the State Bureau of Investigation to submit the case but has received no response. The sheriff’s office did not immediately return a request for comment on the status of Phillips’ request.
Burris’ family has submitted samples to DNA Solves, an organization which partners with Othram, the leading national cold case laboratory. Othram, which is located in Texas, handles thousands of cold cases and unidentified bodies every year.
Phillips said she does not believe the 1991 Columbus County John Doe of her original search is Burris. Those remains have never been identified.
John Doe was found by a group of hunters investigating a flock of vultures, according to the sheriff’s report. The bones were found in a blanket near a pond on an unpaved road. Those remains were too degraded to determine a cause of death, race or other factors, according to the sheriff’s office. Testing since then has indicated the man may be of Latino or African American descent, between 18-39 years of age, and 5’7” to 5’9” tall. The CCJD case, also known by the sheriff’s office file number 91-1134, was submitted to NamUs in 2020 and is still considered open.
Burris is described as an African-American standing 5’9” tall and weighing 170 lbs.
Phillips said she hopes law enforcement will assist in the case.
“I am not asking for manpower,” she said. “I am not asking for the investigation to be reopened. All that is needed is for the case to be turned over to NamUs.”
She said she has provided most of the information to the NamUs, including family DNA samples, but the case cannot be worked until it is approved by the sheriff’s office. She said she emailed the sheriff again this week asking for his help.
Phillips has started a Facebook page about the case, where she posts updates as they become available. The page can be viewed at https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1G7wtstpJH/ .
“It’s disheartening to think he might have been found, but is unidentified,” Phillips said. “If Leon is out there, his family deserves to be able to say goodbye.”
Anyone with information about Burris, or the unidentified body known as Columbus County John Doe 91-1134, is asked to call the sheriff’s office at 910.642.6551.
“What I am asking is for the family to have this chance to be reunited with Leon, if his remains are located. There is no charge to the family nor to Law Enforcement for this service<” Phillips said in a Facebook post. “It is federally funded. It seems the least that can be done for a family waiting for decades for answers. There’s no guarantee that Leon’s remains will ever be found and identified. But I believe he should be accorded that opportunity.
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