04/10/2023
On August 14, 2004, John was picked up from our dads house on Hale Avenue in Livingston, TN by a known male & female. We want to make it very clear that we know who both are and John knew them both very well. Our dad saw and spoke to them both as he had many times when they had visited his home. John considered them family and blindly trusted them both. When he didn’t come home Sunday, we were all concerned because even if he stayed the night with a friend, he always came home the next day to shower and change his clothes. That was just the kind of person he was, he cared very much about his appearance & what he looked like. He was supposed to be at work at 10:00PM Saturday night but he didn’t make it in, didn’t call in and didn’t ever show up to pick up his last paycheck. Also on Sunday morning, the known males dad called our dads house & asked if John made it home okay. He had never called our dads house before (yes we checked phone records) and never did again after that. By Monday, we were all in a panic because at that point we knew something bad had happened. John made some bad decisions but he NEVER once went even a single day without speaking to or seeing at least one person in our family. On Monday August 16, 2004, our dad called the police to report him missing.
Lots of John’s friends started calling our dad as well because it was so out of character that they hadn’t heard from John in days. The females own grandma called our dad & said that the female & male came to her house in the early morning hours on Sunday August 15, 2004 and got a shovel & a pick axe. After hearing that, we knew they killed & buried him that night. This information was given to the police and both were questioned many times by police & told many different stories, none of which were true. The females family told the police not to come back to their property without a search warrant, which was never done. Sound suspicious? Again, please remember that days before this happened these people supposedly considered John “like family” but suddenly had zero interest in his well being and even refused to cooperate with us finding him.
Less than 6 months later in February 2005, our dad passed away. Yes he had been sick for a while but he truly died of heartbreak because he completely gave up after losing John. As we buried our dad, we also bought the plot beside him, hoping to one day be able to bury John’s remains beside our dad, as they both would have wanted. Almost 19 years later, that plot is still empty, John has never received the proper burial he so deserves, and our family pushes on every day without closure. It’s hard enough to lose a son, brother, brother in law, but it’s a whole other form of grief I hope none of you reading this understand or ever experience to have the grieving process dragged on like this because there’s no closure without his remains. We just want closure. Our mom will be 76 soon and she deserves that much before she passes away.
Finally, we want to clear up a few things we see incorrectly reported so often. John’s name is not Johnathan like several articles and even law enforcement at times has wrongly reported. His full name is John Matthew Thrasher. He was not last seen at the Putnam County Fair. He was at the fair on August 13th, not 14th. Our dad was the last person to see him on August 14th when he watched him leave his house with two people who my dad knew very well and named to police. Also, contrary to a report by WKRN News in 2019, our family was not torn apart by losing John. In fact, it was quite the opposite. We have always been close but losing John was a wake up call that you truly never know how much time you have left with your loved ones and we are and have been closer than ever. If you know us, you already know how true that is.
Please like this page and share if you are local to/near Livingston. You never know who might see it and decide to speak up. If you know personally or even know if anyone who was present while John was murdered or has first hand knowledge from someone who was there, we beg you to come forward or urge that person to. Even if you/they don’t feel comfortable going to police, please speak to us. Please remember that you and your loved ones could be in this exact situation. Please join us in praying for just one witness to finally be led to testify to give John the justice he deserves and our family the closure we so very need, especially our mom who has had to try and sleep every night for almost 19 years now wondering where her child’s remains are.
