A disappearance and an end-of-life confession | The 28 year search for Jarrod Green continues

This all started in Searcy, Arkansas back in 1994 when 20-year-old Jarrod Green was just starting out in life.

His sister, Shannon Green described him as a really good kid.

"He was always just so funny and just kept you laughing all the time," she added.

Shannon shared memories most people with siblings can relate to like, "Our bedrooms shared a wall and I could hear him giggling in the other room or, you know, aggravating me listening to music too loud."

Jarrod’s mom, Sharon said he had fallen in with the wrong crowd at school.

"He had no idea what he was getting into really, he just saw these other boys making that money," she explained. "We think he was probably transporting drugs."

As time went on, the family said Jarrod wanted to get out— but couldn’t.

"Jarrod said that like they would never let him pay them back right? They never let him out of what he was trying to get out of," Shannon described.

Court documents showed that Jarrod owed $7,500 for drugs to a dealer. 

"He was really, really paranoid. He told us that he needed to get out of town and we helped him. Our parents helped him move out of the state," Shannon added.

A few weeks later, the family said Jarrod got a call from a friend with good news— no one was looking for him anymore.

Shannon said the family was relieved, at first. 

"So he came home and we were all relieved thinking, oh, yeah, this horrible thing is over. He's back," she explained.

Everything changed on the night of September 30 when Jarrod had a meeting to settle his debt. Searcy Police continue searching into what happened that night.

"Another person that we've talked to said that [Jarrod] was actually crying because he was so scared to go meet with this person," Police Chief Steve Hernandez said.

A friend told police that before the meeting, Jarrod made a stop to pick up his revolver.

"There was something at some point between Jarrod and this person that scared him enough to where he thought he had to have some sort of protection," Hernandez added.

Searcy Police said Jarrod met with the drug dealer and was never seen again.

"Another day went by and nothing. Nobody had seen him. We called everybody that we knew," Shannon explained.

Days later, the family said another person in the drug trade told them they saw Jarrod’s car in the Searcy Walmart parking lot.

Shannon recalled, "The windows were down, the sunroof was open, the keys were thrown up underneath the like the front seat driver's seat floorboard."

Court records showed that someone initially told police they were offered $1,000 to "get rid of" Jarrod.

According to the same court document, the same person said the drug dealer and his roommate grabbed Jarrod at Walmart and that he had been “done away with.”

Shannon said she knew something was wrong right away.

 "We knew that he did not walk away from that car himself," she explained.

Investigators said that 10 months later, the dealer’s roommate started bragging about being involved in Jarrod’s disappearance.

"Shortly sometime after Jarrod went missing, this other person went missing as well," Hernandez said.

Witness testimony described in court documents claimed the dealer later told that person he quote “took care of” it. The roommate was never seen again.

Hernandez explained that Searcy officers are still investigating the connection.

Investigators reported that 6 years later, a close friend of both Jarrod and the dealer killed himself— but not before he told his pastor that he knew about two separate murders.

'We know that he had information about what happened to Jarrod and he took his own life rather than share that information," Shannon said.

This all led to a warrant for the dealer's arrest for capital murder in 2017, but ultimately prosecutors dropped the case due to a few factors.

This happened after the source who said they heard the dealer’s threats took it back and said he had lied.

Additionally, there was still no murder weapon and no body had been found.

Hernandez explained that they were frustrated.

"There was some evidence that was supposed to be there that didn't end up coming up," he added.

Police would only get one chance to try this case and the state wanted more time to find undeniable proof. They wanted to find Jarrod’s body.

"Finding his remains will corroborate what we're being told by witnesses," Hernandez said.

Now in 2023, police say they’re getting close to finding answers.

The family and Searcy Police have brought in teams from out of state that specialize in this type of search.

"There are four locations that the search teams will look at it. It really gave us hope for really, for the first time that we could find him," Shannon described.

Hernandez explained that the details of where they’ll look can’t be shared just yet.

"We don't want the suspect sitting there at his house watching Channel 11 while we're doing this story, and say, 'Oh, I didn't think about that. Maybe I need to go cover that up," he added.

Hernandez also explained that the Green Family’s love for Jarrod still keeps the search for justice alive.

"[Shannon's] perseverance behind looking for Jared and finding Jared and our his remains is kind of given us a little life too, as well, seeing that from her," he said.

Family and detectives continue to hope someone will open up, so they can finally have closure in this case.

"We're not looking to charge anybody with any drug crimes. We know that there's at least one person out there that can give us exactly what we need to put to get Jared back to his family." Hernandez said.

"He was a human being. A much loved human being I just really, as a mother made his remains. It's a horrible thing. Not to be able to bury your child," Sharon pleaded. "[Jarrod] deserves to be remembered for all of the good things that he was and he was so smart and fun and just the life of everything."

After 28 years, they're still holding on to the hope that they’ll bring Jarrod home soon.

"We think about him every single day. And hope that we're going to get today is going to be the day. Today is going to be the day we're going to find him," Shannon said.

Jarrod’s family still runs a Facebook group with over 2,000 members working to help solve this case. 

Many members of that group honored Jarrod’s birthday this weekend by putting up missing signs all over Searcy— hoping someone will come forward with information.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Searcy Police at (501) 268-3531.