Amanda Jones' Case File

Amanda Jones

Amanda Jones has been missing since 2005, 14 year on and there has been no breakthroughs in the case. This case contains sensitive matter as when Amanda vanished she was 8 months pregnant. There are many theories and conspiracies which people believe in regards to this case. Despite local law enforcement investigating the case and generating hundreds of leads, Amanda still remains missing. Lets have a look at the details.

FBI missing persons report for Amanda Jones 

Details

• On August 14th 2005, 26 year old Amanda Jones disappeared from Missouri.
• Amanda was eight and a half months pregnant at the time of her disappearance.
• After attending church with her parents and daughter, Amanda went to meet with Bryan Westfall (the alleged father of her unborn child) at a civic community centre at 1pm.
• Around 15 minutes into the meeting, Amanda took a phone call from her former sister in law, this was the last time anyone spoke to Amanda (her sister in law also reported she sounded agitated).
• Later on that evening, Amanda's family grew concerned when she did not return home or return their calls.
• When friends and family went out looking for Amanda, they found her car unlocked and abandoned in the community centre car park where the meeting took place earlier.
• Amanda was then reported missing by her family, when the authorities searched her car there was no trace of Amanda.

Amanda Jones

Theory One - Walked Off to Start a New Life

• As often suggested in various different missing persons cases, some people believe that Amanda could have ran off to start a fresh life elsewhere.
• This is highly unlikely as Amanda had a very close relationship with her then 4 year old daughter and both Amanda and her family were thrilled about the arrival of her second child.
• Detective Doc Coombs of the Jefferson County Sheriffs Office, an investigator who worked the case since 2011 is adamant that Amanda did not leave on her own volition:
• "After many years in law enforcement I am seldom surprised by human behaviour, however I am sure Amanda did not just walk away or wander off, I think something real bad happened to Amanda or she would've returned to her family."

Amanda and her daughter Hannah

Theory 2 - Scott Jones

• Scott Jones is Amanda's ex husband and father of her first child Hannah, could he have been motivated by the desire to get custody of their daughter?
• After Amanda vanished, Hannah did go and live in St. Louis with her father.
• Amanda and Scott married in 1999 and soon separated in 2000 and divorced in 2002.
• There is no reports of any conflicts regarding the custody of Hannah which highlights the lack of involvement on Jones' behalf.
• Police interviewed Scott after the disappearance and reported that he was co-operative and is not considered a suspect.
• I think we can cross Jones off the list for now.

Missing persons poster 

Theory 3 - Bryan Westfall

• Bryan is the alleged father of Amanda's unborn child, he is considered by many to be the prime suspect in the case.
• Not only was he the last person to have seen Amanda, but also he was said to have been far from happy about the arrival of his child.
• Westfall's parents reported that he wanted so little to do with the baby that he offered Amanda money to abort the baby.
• Apparently he had a long term girlfriend when him and Amanda 'hooked up'.
• Westfall changed his story numerous times, however his final story claimed that he saw Amanda 3 hours later parked up in a different area of the car park talking on her mobile phone.
• Aspects of his story have been called into question, for instance Amanda's cell phone records show that she did not receive or make a call at this time.
• Also the police found it very hard to believe that anyone, especially a 34 week pregnant woman could sit in a car on a hot, humid august day for three hours.
• Its also important to note that Amanda's cars AC was broken at this time.
• Initially, Westfall cooperated with the police, although he did hire a lawyer and has since been unwilling to participate in the investigation.
• The authorities describe Westfall as a 'person of interest' from the beginning of the case.
• Amanda's family are convinced that he is responsible for her disappearance.

Amanda Jones and Bryan Westfall 

Amanda's daughter talking in public for the first time

My Opinion

This is another sensitive case as the missing person was pregnant at the time of her disappearance. My opinion on this case is focused on Bryan Westfall, I feel like he is the only person directly involved with Amanda and also the last person to see her before she disappeared.

The fact that Westfall changed his story numerous times is suspicious, why would he need to do this? Is he covering something up? Further, the fact that Bryan wanted nothing to do with the baby is a massive factor in the case. After contacting him many times with no answer, this was Amanda's last attempt to contact him before the baby was born.

Westfall's parents say that he really did not want anything to do with the baby that much, that he offered Amanda money to get an abortion - however Amanda declined and said she would raise the baby on her own and did not need his help.

In my opinion this theory has the most relevance, Bryan Westfall's case is weak and has far too many inconsistencies to be credible. However, this is only my opinion and for the purpose of the blog.

In memory of Amanda and her unborn baby Hayden

What do you think? Comment below