Mount Pleasant woman still missing after five months

The last time anyone reports to have seen Jackie L. Douthart of Mount Pleasant was in the early morning hours of May 22.

Now, over five months later, the search continues for the young woman who would have celebrated her 25th birthday with friends and family Aug. 18.

"We have kept a flier in our shop window this whole time," a post reads on a Facebook page dedicated to Douthart's disappearance. "People are still asking, still looking."

The Mount Pleasant Police Department issued a news release that Douthart was missing after receiving word that she had not returned home after having an evening out with friends May 21 and 22.

"Jackie rarely goes more than six hours without contacting family or friends and has never left the area without telling anyone," family friend Candi Wixom said two days after the young woman vanished.  "She has a daughter."

Mount Pleasant Police Chief Terry Sammons says that while the department continues to actively follow leads they receive about Douthart, finding out what happened that night has not been a simple task.

"[Solving a case like this] really comes down to [having] the cooperation of people who have knowledge [about what happened]," he said. "But sometimes that's hard to come by."

After a month of authorities searching, Douthart's case took a turn when 24-year-old Ben Biggs, a person of interest in the case, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound during an Illinois standoff on June 29.

On Thursday afternoon, Lt. Ron Archer said that Biggs had told investigators he dropped off Douthart in a neighborhood near North Cherry Street, on the city's north side.

Tammy Haynes, Douthart's mother, said that "all she could do was cry" after hearing the news of Biggs' death.

“He was the most interested party, and he's not here any more to keep questioning,” she said.  “I just figured that since he was gone, somebody might step forward, but nobody has."

With winter approaching, Archer said they are hoping for a break.

"In the winter time, you have a lot of people in the woods, hunting and doing things," said Archer.  "Maybe one of them may see something that catches their eye."