Family reacts to fresh push to solve missing persons case with Shreveport connections

SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) — It’s a decades-old mystery that still has no resolution.

The Shreveport family of a missing woman is cautiously optimistic as South Louisiana officials take another look into the disappearance of Rebecca Pauline “Becky” Gary.

More than three decades have passed since anyone has heard from Gary. Since Dec. 27, 1988, her disappearance has been a mystery.

Jamie Williams says her and her mother, Gary, moved to Baton Rouge that year. Their first weekend in town, Gary sent 12-year-old Jamie to Shreveport for the Christmas holiday to stay with her mother.

After Christmas, Gary called, saying that she needed someone to come get her and that “it wasn’t working out in Baton Rouge.”

It’s what happened next that’s still a big question mark. No one went to get Gary; no one went to get Jamie.

Now, 34 years later, Williams still lives and works in Shreveport and still wonders what happened to her mother.

“At this point, the who or the why is — I really could care less about that,” Williams said. “I just want to bring her home. I need to know because the not knowing is debilitating.”

The family wants answers, and they want closure.

When Gary first went missing, her sister Joyce Lee called police almost every day for nearly three weeks.

“[Officers] told me, ‘she’s just having fun somewhere; don’t worry about it; she’ll show up.’”

But Gary never did show up. Police only officially declared her missing when her landlord could not get in contact with her for rent.

Krystle Smith co-hosts the Bayou Chronicles podcast. She has developed a bond with the Gary family.

“Her apartment was found with the coffee pot on, coffee cups, suitcase packed, her purse on the counter. That doesn’t seem to me someone who took off,” Smith said.

Since Gary’s disappearance, rumors have circulated about her possible involvement with former Louisiana Gov. Edwin W. Edwards. Williams said she wants people to focus their energy on finding her mother, instead.

“People are going to draw their own conclusions. We lived it; we know. it’s not just a speculation. We knew. people are so easy to dismiss. Do I think he had something to do with it? I have no idea. Do I care? Not really, not at this point. I just want my mom.”

A Baton Rouge detective has been in contact with the family. Capital Region Crime Stoppers in Baton Rouge posted about Gary on Tuesday, Aug. 23 on its Facebook page.

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