JASPER — Newton County Sheriff Glenn Wheeler said that on July 11, Newton County Sheriff’s Office was notified of an abandoned truck on a county road off Highway 74 East between Jasper and Piercetown. A deputy responded to the area and located the truck still in the county road, but pulled to one side so traffic could squeeze by. The truck was locked and nothing appeared out of the ordinary other than the location. The deputy checked the area around the truck and spoke with people in the area, but was unable to find anyone associated with it. The deputy had the truck towed and then entered into a nationwide law enforcement computer network as impounded.
On July 19, a detective with the Little Rock Police Department contacted the Newton County Sheriff’s Office in reference to the truck. Little Rock detectives are working a missing persons case on the truck’s owner and had discovered the Newton County entry about the truck being impounded. Newton County authorities then went back to the scene to conduct a more thorough search of the area and secured a search warrant and searched the truck as part of the investigation. Neither yielded information as to the owner’s whereabouts.
The owner of the truck is 41-year-old Clyde Holmes (AKA Clyde Boatwright, Jr.) of Little Rock, Ark. Mr. Holmes is a black male, approximately 5’10” with black dreadlocks. It is unknown what Mr. Holmes was wearing when he left his home in Little Rock on July 10, 2024.
His truck was known to be abandoned on the Newton County Road at approximately 5 a.m. on July 11, but it is unsure how long it had been there when initially seen. It was last known to be in Little Rock a little before 12:30 a.m. the same morning. Mr. Holmes has no known ties to Newton County.
Newton County authorities are working with the Little Rock Police Department on the investigation and has called in specialized K-9 teams and trained ground search teams to assist with searching for Mr. Holmes. At this point, specific search operations are already planned for at least through Monday.
Sheriff Wheeler said, “I have met with Clyde’s family and they are rightfully worried about him. Our prayers go out to him and to his family. We don’t have a lot of information to go on at this point, but are hopeful that, as the investigation and search continues, we will have more information to work with.”
Sheriff Wheeler is asking Newton County residents to contact his office at (870) 446-5124 if they may have seen Mr. Holmes anywhere in the Newton County area since July 10. Anyone with possible information about the investigation can either contact the Newton County Sheriff’s Office or Detective A.J. Boyd with the Little Rock Police Department at (501) 404-3016.
