It’s not clear exactly what made 33-year-old Jared McColloch leave his Marion, Louisiana, home on November 4, 2023, headed toward Illinois.
Nor is it clear how his truck ended up abandoned 36 hours later on a road in Indiana, just over the Illinois state line — with Jared nowhere to be found.
It’s been two years since Jared went missing, and his mother, Tammie Reppond, has dedicated herself to making sense of his last known whereabouts and finding her son.
Before his disappearance, Jared was living in Marion, Louisiana, with Tammie and her husband, Andy Reppond, Jared’s stepfather. Jared worked in construction and maintained the family’s residence when Tammie and Andy traveled for his work. “It’s an older house, so that way he could keep the upkeep, the lawn,” Tammie said. “It was a win-win situation for both of us.”
Tammie describes her son as introverted and reserved. “He was more, you know, stay-at-home country,” she said. “He had a garden planted… he wanted to start growing his own food and having chickens and things like that.”
On the day he left Louisiana, Jared was just 13 days shy of the end of a five-year supervised probation, according to his mother. Court records show that in 2013, Jared pleaded guilty to two charges in Indiana and was sentenced to five years in prison and five years of supervised probation. “He said, ‘I’m guilty. I don’t want an attorney. I’m just gonna plead, Mom,’” Tammie remembered. “You know, he took responsibility.” Upon his release, Jared’s probation was transferred to Louisiana, where Tammie lives. He was due to be released from parole on November 17, 2023.
Jared had traveled while on parole before, often to visit Tammie and Andy on the road. To do so, Tammie says, he had always gotten a travel permit. But on November 4, Jared left the state without obtaining a permit. “As far as the decision of leaving Louisiana, that’s been a big deal,” Tammie told Dateline.
Jared’s five-year probation period had been tough. His brother, Austin, died in 2021. “He was having a really hard time mentally, ‘cause him and Austin were so close,” Tammie explained. “Unfortunately, he started drinking. He was never a drinker.” Tammie says Jared ultimately checked himself into a 30-day stay at the Palmetto Addiction Recovery Center in Rayville, Louisiana.
Tammie told Dateline that in the months prior to Jared’s disappearance, a domestic incident had occurred in Louisiana. According to court records, he was scheduled to have an arraignment hearing on November 15, 2023. Tammie says the family felt confident Jared would be found not guilty. “He wasn’t worried, we weren’t worried,” she said.
And just two months before Jared disappeared, there was a bright spot. That September, he had a new baby. “He was excited about the new baby,” Tammie said. “And he had a very good relationship with the gal that had his baby. And I still have one with her and all her family.”
Jared’s oldest son, who was 15 at the time, was living in Illinois. Tammie believes Jared’s decision to travel to Illinois must have had something to do with his son. “For him not to have gotten the travel permit, something had to happen quickly that concerned him,” she said.
According to Tammie, Jared left Louisiana on the evening on November 4. With him were his two dogs, Roxy Mae and Rusty, as well as a cooler, a suitcase, and a smaller overnight bag in the bed of his truck. During his travels, Jared can be seen several times on security footage which was shown to Tammie by the Knox County Sheriff’s Office.
At 2:32 a.m. on November 5, Jared stopped at a Hucks gas station in Salem, Illinois. He was seen on security video going inside. “You see him give the clerk money for gas,” Tammie said.
At 2:47 a.m., Jared’s truck left the Salem Hucks, but soon afterward, made a U-turn and was seen on camera driving in the opposite direction.
At 5:26 a.m., Jared was seen on camera at a Phillips 66 gas station in Centralia, Illinois, just south of Salem. Jared’s cooler and bags — which were previously in the bed of his truck — were no longer visible.
At 8:51 a.m., Jared was seen on camera at another Hucks gas station in Carmi, Illinois, roughly 45 miles east of Benton.
At 8:59 a.m., Tammie says, she received a text from Jared. It read “Where is that?” Tammie didn’t respond. “I was at the hardware store. I ignored it because Jared wasn’t good with technology, and I figured he was sending the wrong text, like he had done so many times,” Tammie said. “It will always be my biggest regret.”
Tammie says she hasn’t heard from Jared since that text message on November 5.
The Hucks gas station in Carmi is the last location where Jared is seen on camera. He was wearing a winter coat, and appeared to be traveling alone.
The next day, November 6, at 6:30 a.m., according to Tammie, a passerby came across a white 2020 GMC truck on a road that runs between large fields and an embankment along the Wabash River in Indiana, just over the Illinois border. The driver’s side door and the passenger side door and rear door were open.
It was Jared McColloch’s truck.
Dateline spoke with Detective Cameron Carr of the Knox County Sheriff’s Office. According to Det. Carr, after the passerby called central dispatch to report the vehicle, a Knox County Sheriff’s deputy arrived on the scene and then called for detectives.
Tammie says the truck was registered to her and her husband and could be monitored on the GMC app. When the truck was found, it was in the on position but had run out of gas. Later, when reviewing emails, they found a low battery alert from GMC, sent at 6:32 p.m. on November 5, but because the truck was located so close to the border between the Central and Eastern time zones, Tammie is unsure if the alert was at 6:32 p.m. Eastern or Central time.
Tammie says none of Jared’s personal belongings, like his phone and wallet, were found at the scene, but his dogs, Rusty and Roxy Mae, were found safe inside the truck. Tammie says the county dog warden came and collected the dogs and took them to the county shelter. She later picked them up and brought them back to Louisiana.
According to Det. Carr, an immediate search took place around the vehicle. “Once he could not be located in the vicinity of the truck, we did several searches, including the area around the truck and the river next to where the truck was found,” he said. The searches involved multiple agencies and lasted several days. The sheriff’s office used underwater drones and watercraft, and the Indiana State DNR launched watercraft, as well, to search the Wabash River. Knox County brought in nationally-recognized dog teams, and over the course of the investigation, several canine searches have been done.
Tammie is worried that Jared’s legal status may have led investigators to think he’s on the run from authorities and not a typical missing person. To her, it doesn’t make sense that her son would have gone on the run in Indiana, since Jared’s probation was technically out of Indiana and had been transferred down to Louisiana. “For them to try to think that Jared was on the run, you live in Louisiana, you wouldn’t drive to Indiana, the place you’re on probation out of,” she said.
The Knox County Sheriff’s Office released a statement about Jared on Facebook on November 6, 2024, labeling the search for Jared as “attempting to locate.”
On February 26, 2024, Tammie says, she got a call from Jared’s parole officer. “She didn’t want me to be surprised that she was gonna have to violate Jared’s parole. And the terms were absconding, ‘cause obviously he didn’t make it to his last hearing,” she said. And because Jared didn’t appear at his arraignment hearing, there is an active warrant out for him.
Detective Carr told Dateline the Knox County Sheriff’s Office is aware of Jared’s probation and the active warrant. However, he said, Jared’s case is listed as a missing person, and his case is being worked the same as every other missing person’s case. “He was listed as a missing person and he is still listed as a missing person,” he said. “If anyone has any information at all, to anything involving Jared McColloch and his disappearance, please contact us at the Sheriff’s Department.”
Carr declined to speak further about the circumstances surrounding Jared’s disappearance or the current investigation, due to the active status of the case.
Detective Sergeant Eddie Johnson of the Mount Carmel Police Department has also been assisting in the investigation since the summer of 2025. “We are actively involved in the investigation,” he told Dateline. “There’s work going into it all the time.” Mount Carmel, Illinois, is just across the Wabash River from where Jared’s truck was located in Indiana.
Tammie McColloch travels periodically to the area where Jared disappeared and hosts events to raise awareness about his case. She says the support from the community means a lot to her, especially from Vincennes Animal Shelter, which housed Jared’s dogs till she was able to pick them up. “They spoiled Roxy and Rusty the entire time,” she said. “They sent me pictures and videos every day. And still to this day, any kind of event that I have, they all come.”
Tammie first hosted an event in Indiana in July of 2024. “I wanted somehow to find a way to get Jared’s name out there,” she said. “We put flowers into the river and things like that. And we had a huge turnout.”
“I can’t say good time, but if there was a time that could be good, it was, ‘cause of the community support. There was a lot of support there,” Tammie said. “A lot of people who you could tell really cared.”
Jared McColloch is 5’9” and 175 lbs., with blue eyes and blonde hair. He would be 35 years old today.
If you have information on Jared’s whereabouts, please contact the Knox County Sheriff’s Office at 812-882-7660 or by entering information on the website: www.knoxcountyindianasheriffsoffice.com.
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