Hunters who found body in 2006 want $5K reward 

 

COLUMBUS—Anyone who lived in Polk County in 2004 knows the story of Thomas Amburn, who went missing on Little White Oak Mountain in Columbus almost 15 years ago.  

Now the people who found his body more than two and a half years after he went missing are wondering why they never collected on a $5,000 reward promised in 2005.  

It was April 19, 2004 and Amburn, per his usual routine, went for a hike just behind his home off Houston Road.  

By that evening when he had still not returned, his wife got worried and called authorities. Searches went on for days, with teams growing to 150 people from agencies in Polk County and beyond. Dogs were brought in, as well as helicopters. Amburn, 51, was diabetic and did not have his medication with him. Searches continued sporadically for a couple of years, until one day, Chad Fisher and his father-in-law, David Dimsdale, were tracking a deer and found remains near the top of the mountain.  

Fisher said for the last 12 years they have been trying to collect on the reward. The reward was publicized as $5,000 from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. The Carole Sund/Carrington Memorial Reward Foundation offered the reward to the sheriff’s office for finding the missing Amburn in April 2005.  

Capt. B.J. Bayne, now with the Tryon Police Department, was at the time a sergeant with the sheriff’s office and was the lead investigator for Amburn’s case.  

Bayne said there was a contract between the foundation and the sheriff’s office, which was placed in Amburn’s file.  

She said the reward was only good for six months, however, and was set up so if Amburn was found, whoever found him would be paid the reward by the sheriff’s office and the sheriff’s office would be reimbursed by the foundation.  

The six-month clause was the problem. The foundation offered the reward for six months, which ended in Oct. 2005. Fisher and Dimsdale did not find Amburn’s remains until December 2006.  

Bayne said the sheriff’s office at the time was still putting up flyers that a reward was being offered after the six months was up.  

“Although the Sund Foundation would only reimburse the reward for six months, the public was not aware of that,” Bayne said. “As far as the public knew, the $5,000 reward was valid.”   

Fisher said he was promised they would get their money and they have always made contact with the sheriff’s office about the reward.  

“All we’re asking for is what’s right,” Fisher said. “The sheriff’s office put out for the reward. And that’s wrong. It’s not about the money; it’s about what’s right.”  

Polk County Manager Marche Pittman said the county has researched the reward money and the county cannot pay money for another entity with Polk County taxpayer money.  

“We have researched the reward money from 2006 and can find no record of the money being paid to Polk County Government,” Pittman said. “We understand that the organization that promised the reward is no longer in operation. We cannot pay money for another entity from the taxpayers of Polk County.”  

North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission Sgt. Toby Jenkins, who was Polk County’s Wildlife Officer in 2004 as well as 2006 when Amburn was found, said this week that Fisher called him when he found the remains on the mountain.  

“Chad called me an asked if there was a reward,” Jenkins said. “And I said, that’s my understanding.”  

Jenkins said when Fisher called him saying he thought he found Amburn on the mountain, he called then Polk County Sheriff Chris Abril and they, with several other sheriff’s officers went to the site.  

Jenkins said he and officers went there, spending several hours and immediately knew it was Amburn because of several items found, including his wallet and identification. They sent the remains to the state to confirm it was in fact, Amburn.  

At one point, Amburn’s story made national news through a television show called Psychic Detectives. That show was titled, “Mystery on the Mountain.”  

Jenkins said the Polk County Sheriff’s Office paid a psychic, he thinks out of Florida, to give her opinion on where Amburn might be.  

“They had me come in and walk Little Chocolate Drop,” Jenkins said. “The psychic said he was in the woods around water.”  

Amburn ended up being found by Fisher and Dimsdale about 25 yards off the trail and not near water.  

Jenkins and others have said over the years they were shocked Amburn had climbed so high on the mountain given his condition. He was a 51-year-old diabetic who had recently had foot surgery.