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Families still searching for missing
Published November 20, 2009
Two families in the area are approaching yet another holiday season without a treasured member of the family there to celebrate and no idea where they might be or what happened to them.
The family of Justin Gaines, the Snellville teen who disappeared from a Duluth nightclub Nov. 2, 2007, when he was 18 years old, is no closer to finding out what happened to him now, two years later. Likewise, the family of Jason Roark, the Snellville Iraq veteran who disappeared from the Gwinnett Inn in Lilburn Nov. 9, 2006, when he was 26, also still do not know what happened to their loved one.
Despite flyers being distributed, reward funds established and numerous newspaper and television reports, neither family has received any information that gives them the closure they are seeking.
Both cases have remained active but were only worked when new information came to light. As is usually the case with missing adults, time passed before officials classified the cases as foul play and by that time much of the relevant information was lost.
In the case of both Roark and Gaines, the last sighting anyone had of either of them was a grainy image on a security surveillance tape.
Roark, an assistant manager at the Texas Roadhouse restaurant in Snellville at the time of his disappearance, was last seen on a surveillance tape leaving the Gwinnett Inn in his black Honda Accord just after 11 a.m. Nov. 9. His car was located 36 days later at a rest stop in Morgan County off Interstate 20. A former co-worker from the Texas Roadhouse, Nick Berntson, was the last known person to see Jason before his disappearance.
Gaines was last seen Nov. 2, 2007 at the Wild Bill’s nightclub in Duluth. He went there with friends who decided not to go in. Gaines, however, said he would find another ride home and was last seen at the nightclub looking for a ride home.
Up until now, family members have been left with little hope of any resolution as the years passed since they had any contact with their loved one. But a recent development might give them cause for hope.
According to Bob Poulnot, a private investigator who has been working on the cases for the respective families, both have now been turned over to the Gwinnett County Cold Case Unit. Poulnot said he is working with Gwinnett County Detective Charlie Bishop of the Cold Case Unit in hopes of finding some resolution for both these families.
Roark is the son of Ken and Terry Roark. He will turn 30 on Dec. 11, the fourth birthday that has passed since his disappearance. Gaines is the son of Erika and Steven Wilson and he will be 20 on his next birthday.
Anyone with information on either of these cases is asked to contact the Gwinnett County Police at 770-513-5300 or e-mail Poulnot at pi@atlanta
pi.com.
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