She Disappeared In 2008, And Her Alleged Killer Was Later Found Deceased In The Trunk Of Another Woman’s Car
In 2008, Jamie Fraley was a 22-year-old part-time college student living in Gastonia, North Carolina. Two years prior, she’d moved to an apartment complex located at 1850 Lowell Bethesda Road and began dating Ricky Simonds Jr., a man with a criminal record and history of drug abuse.
Jamie was reportedly defensive of Simonds Jr.’s past, who served 15 months in prison from January 4, 2007, to April 29, 2008. She wrote to him every single day, and the pair ultimately got engaged.
The 22-year-old also ran a Myspace page dedicated to missing person cases and had a goal of becoming a substance abuse counselor.
Yet, on April 8, 2008, Jamie vanished, and her alleged killer was later found deceased in the trunk of another woman’s car.
“She always wanted to help people. And she always tried to see the best in people, which may have gotten her into trouble. She was too trusting at times,” her mother, Kim Fraley, said.
Jamie’s Disappearance
It all began on April 8 when, shortly after midnight, Jamie called Kim and claimed she wasn’t feeling well. She’d gone to the hospital twice and had been diagnosed with the stomach flu.
Kim offered to pick up her daughter, but Jamie had an appointment with the Social Security Administration the following day that she needed to attend. The 22-year-old reportedly had bipolar disorder and anxiety, so a healthcare provider was scheduled to bring her to the appointment.
“I said, ‘Well, I love you.’ And she said, ‘I love you, too.’ It was the last time I heard her voice. I’m just, well, I’m just really glad I got to tell her I loved her. At least I have that. Because the next day, she was gone,” Kim recalled.
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According to Gaston County Police Department Captain W.P. Downey, Jamie made another call at 2:00 a.m., supposedly telling a friend that she was getting a ride to the hospital. Jamie’s friend knew it was a man, as she’d said, “He is here” while on the phone, but she didn’t name him.
Jamie never wound up arriving at the hospital and missed her appointment with the Social Security Administration the next day. Her healthcare provider, who was supposed to drive her, also contacted Kim, claiming that Jamie’s apartment door had been locked, and no one answered the door.
This pushed Kim to call the police, and once an officer arrived, no signs of a struggle or forced entry were found. Nonetheless, Jamie was gone.
Three of Jamie’s relatives, her mother, aunt, and cousin, ultimately visited the apartment themselves and realized something was wrong. Jamie had left behind her purse, wallet, keys, and ID, but her cell phone was missing.
Then, Kim saw that there was dried vomit throughout the apartment, and at the top of Jamie’s stairs, her favorite pair of shoes were missing its shoelaces. The police were contacted again, and Jamie was officially reported missing.
The following few hours were spent attempting to call Jamie’s phone, and eventually, a man picked up. He worked for the cable company and had heard the device ringing while repairing lines at the intersection of New Hope Road and Hudson Boulevard. The location was approximately one and a half miles from Jamie’s apartment.
Jamie’s phone was scuffed up, and no fingerprints could be lifted from it since it was handled by too many people. Still, authorities thought it had been thrown out of a moving vehicle, raising suspicions of foul play.
The Search For Jamie
Gaston County Police began investigating her case, requesting help from the FBI and the State Bureau of Investigation. They searched a lake that sat across the street from her apartment and questioned her neighbors and friends.
Meanwhile, Jamie’s loved ones executed their own searches and created thousands of fliers.
Despite the 22-year-old’s struggles with bipolar disorder and anxiety, she’d been responding well to her medications leading up to her disappearance and attending Gaston College. Even though she was in a relationship with Ricky Simonds Jr., who had a criminal past, he was still in prison at the time she went missing. So, he was ruled out as a suspect.
However, someone else emerged in the investigation: Ricky’s father, Ricky Simonds Sr. He had spent time behind bars during the 1980s for strangling his ex-girlfriend, Donna Miller, to death. Prior to Jamie’s disappearance, he also lived in the same apartment complex as her, just two doors down, and was a maintenance worker there.
Jamie and Ricky Simonds Sr. supposedly became friendly, and she would sometimes hang out at his apartment. There, he lived with his then-girlfriend, Kim Sprenger. Both Simonds Sr. and Sprenger were reportedly addicts.
Investigators questioned Simonds Sr., who they described as “cold” and “manipulative.” Still, he didn’t provide much information and wasn’t named a person of interest in Jamie’s case. Two months later, he was also found dead in his Sprenger’s car.
On June 7, 2008, Sprenger, who was no longer dating Simonds Sr., had noticed a foul smell emanating from her car that only seemed to get stronger. She finally checked her trunk on June 9 and discovered Simonds Sr.’s dead body.
She contacted the authorities, and underneath Simonds Sr.’s body, there were multiple items belonging to Sprenger that had gone missing the week prior. Additionally, a knife was located, and upon talking to Simonds Sr.’s friends, investigators learned that he’d planned to give Sprenger “the surprise of her life.”
Leading up to his death, investigators had gotten a warrant to track Simonds Sr.’s movements, hoping they may find some clues to Jamie’s case. Rather, they realized that he seemed to be stalking Sprenger and warned her.
Sprenger had gotten a restraining order on May 9, just under one month before Simonds Sr. was discovered in her trunk.
An autopsy report revealed that Simonds Sr. had been dead for two days, dying of hyperthermia or heat stroke. He had both drugs and alcohol in his system, so the police believed that he was under the influence when he locked himself in Sprenger’s trunk. Then, he either died because he panicked and couldn’t find the emergency latch to let himself out or was too incapacitated.
Jamie’s Case Goes Unsolved
For Jamie’s mother, Kim, it feels as if Simonds Sr. took any information about her daughter’s disappearance to his grave.
“Any questions we had for him, any information we could have gotten from him, now it’s gone,” she stated.
Jamie’s case is unsolved over 16 years later, and according to Captain Downey, investigators are missing one important tip from someone with information that could finally give Jamie’s family closure.
“Someone knows something. What if it was your daughter, your sister, your child? It’s time to come forward,” Kim said.
A Facebook group entitled “Missing Jamie Michelle Fraley” has been created to continue raising awareness about her disappearance. In 2020, Kim shared how she would never give up the search for answers, saying, “Until you show me different, I’m going to have hope that she’s alive.”
Jamie was four foot eight, weighed 90 pounds, and had blonde hair and brown eyes. She also had a tattoo of the name “Ricky” on her ankle.
Anyone with information regarding her disappearance is urged to contact the Gaston County Police Department at (704) 866-3320.
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