Missing NC man’s camper found in disarray, family says. ‘Aaron didn’t just run off’
.jpg "Aaron Fortner, 25, has been missing in Jackson County, North Carolina, since Feb. 21, 2022. Law enforcement described him as having dark hair, brown eyes and a slender build.")
It’s been two weeks since 25-year-old Aaron Fortner disappeared from Western North Carolina — leaving few clues other than a disheveled trailer and a string of unexplained phone calls to his grandparents, according to family and friends.
Fortner was last believed to be at his camper on Fox Trace Road in Sylva, North Carolina, around 2:30 a.m. on Feb. 21, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said. Sylva is a town of about 2,700 people that encompasses less than 3 square miles at the foot of the Great Smoky Mountains.
Fortner’s wallet, keys and phone charger were found in his home, The Southern Scoop reported.
There has not been any activity on his his phone — which has not been found — or on his social media accounts since he went missing, according to the media outlet.
His mom, Kristina Biddix, told WLOS the camper had been upended with all the lights and his electric blanket still on. She said it looked “completely different” than the last time she saw it the day before he disappeared.
“Aaron didn’t just run off,” family friend Mindy Lassiter said in a Feb. 24 Facebook post.
Lassiter reiterated what Biddix said about his camper, saying it was “turned upside down.” She said he “left everything behind” that he would normally take with him and that he “never left his place in a mess, ever.” A hat was also found in the driveway that Fortner was wearing the night before he disappeared, Lassiter said.
She said he also called his grandparents intermittently until 1 or 2 a.m. that night “talking strange.” His phone, however, reportedly continued to get disconnected.
In another Facebook post on Feb. 23, Lassiter said not a day would go by where Fortner didn’t talk to his mom or grandparents. Linda Cody, who identified Fortner as her grandson, has repeatedly pleaded with him to call since he disappeared.
“Please Aaron call your nanny if you see this,” she said in a Feb. 24 Facebook post. “I love you so much.”
Search parties combed the area surrounding Fortner’s home in the week after he went missing, according to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office. More than a 100 people participated — including a swift-water team from Cherokee, members of several local fire departments, the Jackson County Rescue Squad, Emergency Management and the State Bureau of Investigation.
By Feb. 26, his sister Kourtney Biddix said there were “no leads to his disappearance,” and on March 2 the sheriff’s office opted to call off the “boots on the ground investigation.”
“We are not giving up,” Jackson County Sheriff Chip Hall said in a Facebook post announcing the decision. “But we are moving into a different stage of the search.”
Officials said investigators will keep “exploring leads and interviewing acquaintances.”
Fortner is described as 5’9” and weighing 140 pounds with short brown hair, brown eyes and a slender build. According to law enforcement, he has also gone by other names such as Cody Black, Cody Smith, Cody Fortner and Aaron Winehouse.
His sister said he has tattoos on his wrists and both arms above the elbow.
“Please, if you know anything tell someone,” Kourtney Biddix said on Facebook. “No matter if you think it will incriminate you. We just want him home and safe, please speak up if you know anything.”
Kristina Biddix has said she “will not stop looking for my baby boy.”
“If it takes the rest of my life I will look for you till my last breath,” she said in a Facebook post on March 4. “I ask God to take me and bring my son home. I have experienced pain in my life and thought I couldn’t break but this is breaking me.”
Anyone with information about Fortner’s whereabouts or disappearance is asked to call the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office at 828-586-4355 or dispatch at 828-586-1911.
