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Then, all Ethel had to do was tumble enough hay out of the loft to fully conceal the truck, lock up the barn, call in a missing person's report, and wait. The local authorities concluded after reading Keene's suicide note that Ethel had indeed chosen that option.
Exactly one year after she reported him missing, Keene was legally declared dead, and the case closed. The county issued a death certificate, and Keene's widow received a meager settlement from his life insurance company.
Investigators from Towns County as yet, hadn't figured out how Ethel got back home from Lake Nottely (fifteen miles away) and the ultimate whereabouts of Keene's aluminum bass boat; but, after thirty-plus years, they didn't appear very eager to pursue these questions.
Lonnie Patterson's 'wrap-up' and assessment of the case seemed to satisfy Micah and Hank, but it was obvious to me
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that Isabel wanted more. What reason did Ray's grandfather have for committing suicide? He had no debt, he appeared to be well off, he was apparently in good health . . . "Why?"
Isabel asked Lonnie if she could view the case file, including the suicide note. Lonnie hedged, saying that it might not be available because it was still "evidence in an open case." Micah and I know Isabel well enough to realize that she wasn't going to let her questions go easily. By the time he left, Patterson had agreed to pass Isabel's request for more information on to Towns County Sheriff Ben Odom and even the GBI, if necessary. Less than a week passed before Isabel was contacted by Sheriff Odom's office with word that she would be "welcome to look at the file which was now in the hands of the Towns County Clerk of Court."
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