Christopher Cole Thomas
Cole, as he liked to be called, was funny. He was also very ambitious and when he had his mind set on something he would get it done. Cole would do anything for anyone. He was very close to his family who said that he gave the best hugs.
In high school, Cole was an honor student and had a scholarship to the University of Florida, which he used following graduation. He also had a on again off again girlfriend named Gabrielle.
Things seemed to be going good for 22-year-old Cole, and even though he was close to finishing college, he decided to drop out and head to Minnesota with his friend Steven to work as a apprentice electrician. This greatly concerned his parents Chris and Kathy Thomas, but they supported him nonetheless.
Things seemed to be going good for 22-year-old Cole, and even though he was close to finishing college, he decided to drop out and head to Minnesota with his friend Steven to work as a apprentice electrician. This greatly concerned his parents Chris and Kathy Thomas, but they supported him nonetheless.
Being very family oriented, Cole kept in close contact with his family over the phone. On the Sunday before Thanksgiving of 2016, he called his aunt Darla. That would be the last time any of his family would hear his voice.
Cole sent his last text to his dad on Thanksgiving day, telling his dad that he loved him and to have a good day. His dad text him back and told him he loved him too.
Unbeknownst to his family, on that Thanksgiving day, Cole allegedly volunteered to drive some of his co-workers on a over 1,000 mile trip from Pine Island, Minnesota to Durham, North Carolina. Two of the guys that Cole was traveling with he had only known for two weeks.
Later that night, a surveillance camera from a convenience store in Mount Olive, North Carolina, recorded Cole shopping at 11:30 p.m.
Three days later, Gabrielle claimed that she received a Facebook message from a friend of her and Cole's stating that "Cole is missing and we think he is dead." And that he never made it to North Carolina.
Gabrielle quickly called Cole's mother, Kathy, about the friend's ominous call. Kathy told a shaken Gabrielle that she didn't believe the friend and that she didn't feel as though Cole was dead. Moments later, Kathy received another call, this time from the Benson police telling her that Cole was registered as a missing person. Benson is roughly 30 miles from the convenience store where Cole was last seen.
When Cole's father got home from work, they broke the news to him that Cole apparently went missing between 1 and 3 in the morning, on the day after Thanksgiving.
Cole's parents rushed right away, 500 miles on a Holiday weekend, to North Carolina to help search for their son. They arrived at the Benson police station at about 3 a.m. There was a Sargent on duty who let them in. The Sargent then called one of the guys that Cole had been on the trip with. The guy claimed that they had told police that Cole had a panic attack, jumped out of the vehicle and took off. He said that they waited a while for Cole, but he never came back, so they left.
The story that the guys, that were the last to see Cole, told police didn't make sense to his family. And over time, that story kept changing.
One of the last people to see Cole alive was his co-worker named Jeremy. Supposedly, Cole and Jeremy were traveling with another co-worker named Julian. They were on their way to Julian's house when they had stopped off at the convenience store. Jeremy told Cole's dad that they made a stop to someone else's house after they left the store because Julian was going to purchase drugs.
Julian had a criminal history which involved drug trafficking of meth. He also wasn't very cooperative when Cole's dad, Chris, tried to ask him questions.
Jeremy told Chris that Cole didn't want to have anything to do with the drug deal that night, but went anyway. He said that all three of them were stripped searched to make sure that they weren't wearing a wire or carrying a weapon. Jeremy said that once the deal was done, they left and that is when Cole freaked out. He then told Chris that Cole thought someone was following them and that made Jeremy afraid that they were going to get caught. Jeremy said he grabbed the drugs from Julian and threw them out the window.
A surveillance photo captured what is thought to be Cole and Jeremy walking down a street in Benson around 1 a.m. on the day after Thanksgiving.
Jeremy then told Chris that they kept walking until they arrived at a church. He then said that Cole had to use the bathroom and while he was doing that Jeremy went around to the back of the church and got down on his hands and knees and prayed. When Chris asked him why prayed, Jeremy said, "Cuz i threw the dope out the window and this ain't good people."
When Jeremy was done praying, he went back around to the front of he church, but couldn't find Cole. He thought that maybe Cole went back to the vehicle, so he started walking back. After walking for around 5 minutes, Jeremy said he heard what sounded like two gunshots.
When Jeremy got about a block from the vehicle, he said that Julian saw him and asked him, "Where the hell ya'll been? If my boys woulda seen ya out here in this neighborhood it wouldn't have been good. And there wouldn't have been nothin i could do about it."
Cole's phone was tracked to several locations before the trail ended in Mount Olive.
The police used ATVs and K9s to search a wooded area in Benson, but found nothing.
Julian Valles Jr, Jeremy Brian Carpenter, Rudolfo DeLeon Jr., and Anthony Riddell James, were identified as suspects in the case and arrested. Charges against the four have since been dropped, but investigators continue to keep their eyes on them.
Cole's family enlisted the help of private investigator David Marshburn to him them find him. He thinks two of the men, previously arrested, were not involved in Cole's, but the other two were — and one of them was set up to take the fall.
Marshburn said one of the suspects has opened up about the case and family members want to make it very clear, they are aware of what happened. They were told that Julian allegedly hatched a plan to tell authorities that Cole had run off after a drug deal with the men. Julian then allegedly called DeLeon and James to come to Benson after Cole, Julian and Jeremy had bought methamphetamine from DeLeon in Wayne County because Cole had thrown the drugs away. When all five met up in Benson, "decisions were made" that led to Cole's death.
Marshburn said one of the suspects has opened up about the case and family members want to make it very clear, they are aware of what happened. They were told that Julian allegedly hatched a plan to tell authorities that Cole had run off after a drug deal with the men. Julian then allegedly called DeLeon and James to come to Benson after Cole, Julian and Jeremy had bought methamphetamine from DeLeon in Wayne County because Cole had thrown the drugs away. When all five met up in Benson, "decisions were made" that led to Cole's death.
This case remains under active investigation by both the Benson Police department and the SBI. A $17,000 reward is still being offered to anyone who has information that could solve this case.
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