Two years after the unsolved disappearance of Shelley Mook, the concern over the case is evident in the voice of Sheriff Randall Boyce.
"It's the most frustrating thing you can imagine," Boyce said Wednesday. "It's just eating at me."
The Mook case, as well as those involving two children missing after a Rover-area house fire last September and the fate of Shelbyville resident Bobby Smelcer, weigh heavily on Boyce's mind.
"The one thing that's eating at me, that we can't find Shelley Mook, Bobby Smelcer, Chloie Leverette and Gage Daniel," Boyce said Wednesday.
Mook was last seen two years ago today -- Feb. 28, 2011. The Harris Middle School reading teacher had left her daughter with ex-husband, Tyler Mook at his Nashville Dirt Road home and was en route to Murfreesboro to meet a maintenance man at her new apartment. She never arrived. Her car was found burned south of Murfreesboro later that night.
"We're pretty sure that we know what happened and who did it. We're 99 percent sure. We just can't find the body," Boyce said.
"We've searched every cave and sinkhole in Bedford County and most of them in surrounding counties. I think she's buried somewhere or there's even the possibility that she's been burned. We've had leads her body may be somewhere in Kentucky."
Investigation continues, Boyce said.
"We're still running down a few leads. The TBI is investigating the case but we're working on it, too."
Others missing
Smelcer was last seen in November 2011 in Shelbyville. His skull was found in Duck River west of Shelbyville last spring. City police are the primary local agency investigating the case but Bedford County is helping out, the sheriff said.
Leverette and Daniel were living with their grandparents, Leon McClaran Sr. and Mollie McClaren, in a Kingdom Road home which burned last September. No remains of the children have been discovered; the McClarans' bodies were recovered.
Officers also continue to seek Antonio Taylor, who has not been seen since 1999.
"We just want to put an end to all those cases," Boyce said. "If anyone else has information on either of those cases please give us a call."
The Bedford County Sheriff's Department can be reached at 684-3232.