LOUISA COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — The family of Jacob Allen Whaley is asking for his memory to be honored two years after he was found dead.
34-year-old Jacob Whaley, of Lousia County, was reported to have been providing his boss a ride home during a snowstorm on Jan. 3, 2022, and was driving back home when his truck went into a ditch.
Jacob Whaley then called his mother telling her that his car had been stuck on Route 601 and he was going to attempt to walk the remaining distance home — which was about six miles away.
Family members of Jacob Whaley said his phone only had 14% battery left when he started to walk home. During his journey, 8News is told he had sent a text to his mother around 8:45 p.m. reading, “I’m lost.” — which was the last text the family had received from him.
“At one point, I guess his phone either died or he lost service completely,” said Angela Whaley, Jacob Whaley’s sister. “My mom had texted him a couple of times and asked him where he was — kind of told him, ‘Get on this road until you find this road and you’ll be, you know…home safe.”
Louisa County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) said that Jacob Whaley’s phone later died, and they were contacted by one of his family members about his car being broken down and abandoned in a nearby county.
Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office found Jacob Whaley’s truck on Mt. Olive Road, which stretches into Hanover County, and filed a missing persons report as a “courtesy report,” although “there was no jurisdictional grounds for [Spotsylvania] to investigate.”
Jacob Whaley was missing for three days as search efforts were conducted by family members, law enforcement and volunteers. According to the LCSO, Jacob Whaley was found on Jan. 6 in an area near Greenes Corner Road — about 209 yards off the roadway in an extremely dense pine plantation.
Jacob Whaley’s family expressed that they wished the LCSO would have done more to prevent his death, such as filing an initial missing persons report.
“[LCSO] had said that they would file a missing persons report. They had told [Whaley’s mother] what was filed, and then they had told her that their system was down and they weren’t able to file it,” Angela Whaley said. “A couple hours after that, they said that the system was back up and they could file it and they never did.
Angela Whaley said she had contacted the Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office instead in order to file a missing persons report for brother.
On Jan. 10, 2022, LCSO had posted a timeline of the department’s search efforts, which detailed the weather conditions and power outages to have impacted the work of law enforcement.
In the statement, LCSO said the following:
At approximately 4:30 pm on January 3, Jacob notified his mother that his vehicle was stuck and he intended to walk the remaining six miles home. Jacob’s mother contacted LCSO 4 hours and 22 minutes later at 9:12 pm to request that his home be checked. LCSO was immediately and actively involved from this point on in the situation. Using a chainsaw to remove trees from blocked roads, a deputy responded to check the home and nearby roads within 20 minutes of the first call to dispatch. Numerous deputies subsequently searched roads, repeatedly checked Jacob’s home and the surrounding hospitals, and combed extremely dense woods.
Jacob’s vehicle, a red Dodge Durango, was identified by the Spotsylvania County Fire & Rescue in Hanover County in the area where the Counties of Hanover, Louisa and Spotsylvania geographically converge. LCSO provided support to other localities in addition to and trying repeatedly to locate Jacob around his anticipated path home.
A chronological list of multiple searches for Jacob and records of inter-County efforts is below, as well as context on the severity of the winter storm conditions and impacts.
Louisa County Sheriff’s Office
According to Angela Whaley, when LCSO came out with the statement about the efforts to locate Jacob Whaley, a lot of people had made comments about how they did not know anyone was missing, and wondering why there was no post with information asking for the community’s help.
Angela Whaley said increased search efforts conducted by LCSO, as well as an issued alert to the community could have possibly saved her brother’s life.
“Had [LCSO] actually gone out and looked for him when we told him, ‘hey, this is where a cell phone pinged from, he’s in this area. Can you go look for him?’ If they would have driven by with their little microphone and their lights on and, you know, he would have made it out,” Angela Whaley said.
Jacob Whaley’s family currently wishes LCSO would return his belongings which were reported on his person during the time of his death. These items included his wallet, keys and cell-phone.
“We just want closure, there’s no point in them having that stuff, we know and we have his death certificate, and they have his cause of death. He died from hypothermia. There’s no foul play,” Angela Whaley said. “My parents canceled his bank cards. They changed the locks. There’s pictures on his phone of him and his son.”
8News contacted LCSO and confirmed officials will look into the belongings that Jacob Whaley’s family has asked to be returned. A spokesperson for LCSO said in regards to the incident that “there are no updates and the case has been closed.”
Jacob Whaley’s family asks the community to remember him with positivity and to carry out kind gestures in his honor.
“Go buy somebody some biscuits and gravy, something very simple,” Angela Whaley said. “Crack a little joke, make somebody smile cause he liked to do stuff like that. Don’t forget about Jacob. Don’t let his death be in vain, because the last thing that he did before he passed away was give somebody a ride home.”
