The curious case of missing Hernando teenager Jerry Lee Armstrong, who vanished without a trace 47-years-ago
The curious case of missing Hernando teenager Jerry Lee Armstrong, who vanished without a trace 47-years-ago
By Mark Bullock | August 27, 2024 | Investigative Journalist
HERNANDO, MS. (TVMO) - On the evening of December 23, 1977, 17-year-old Jerry Lee Armstrong sat down at the family dinner table at the Armstrong family home in Hernando Mississippi and ate dinner with his mother, father, sister, and two brothers.
After finishing dinner, Jerry then left the house and headed to his girlfriends house in nearby Dark Corners, to pick her up and take her to the Hernando High School dance being held at the National Guard Armory in Hernando. Just before leaving the Armstrong residence, Jerry told his mother and father that he would be home by midnight.
After leaving the house, Jerry got into a white 1973 Pontiac La Man’s two-door sports coupe with red racing stripes, which belonged to his older brother James, and headed to pick up his girlfriend and take her to the high school dance.
At 12:30 a.m. on the morning of December 24, 1977, Jerry’s mother and father left the family home in search of Jerry as he was still not home, which was unusual for the high school quarterback. As usually, Jerry was never late, but on this night he was, which led his mother to tell her husband and children that “something has happened to Jerry.”
According to his girlfriend, the young lovers had left the high school dance around 11:30 p.m., and Jerry had drop her at home for around 11:45 p.m. and said he was going home.
After several hours of searching, the family were unable to locate Jerry or the car.
By noon of December 24, 1977, Jerry’s mother had called DeSoto County Sheriff’s Department to file a missing persons report. Mrs. Armstrong told DCSO that Jerry was a happy teenager with a good paying job at the Cold Water gas station and he was also the high school quarterback. What’s more, the high schooler was not known to have any enemies. Jerry’s mother also told the deputy who took the report that the trunk of the Pontiac was filled with Christmas presents that Jerry had brought for his family.
DCSO could not find one shred of evidence to suggest or even imply that Jerry planned to run away from home, neither did his mother believe that Jerry planned to run away. But this would not stop DCSO from initially claiming this to the family, back in 1978. However, by the early 2000’s DCSO changed their view point, and now believed that Jerry did not plan to run away.
There was a twist to the story, though, because Jerry’s older brother James who owned the white Pontiac La Man’s was dating a white girl from Hernando. This did not sit too well with a lot of town folk as this was the south in the 1970’s, and while segregation had been over for some 13 years, the attitudes of a lot of the people of the town still believed that interracial couples should not be a thing, let alone be put on public display for all to see. Like James and his white girlfriend were doing.
This led to the theory that possibly the Ku Klux Klan had taken matters into their own hands and targeted James and planned to teach him a lesson. But on the night in question when James Pontiac was spotted he was not driving it, it was his younger brother Jerry. However, it seems that if the KKK were the perpetrators of Jerry’s disappearance then one Armstrong brother was just as good as the other.
To further substantiate these claims that the KKK were behind Jerry’s disappearance, local rumors soon surfaced that Jerry was murdered somewhere on Craft Street close by Hernando town limits and he and the car were then buried at a landfill.
James Armstrong would later die while living in Tate County in February 1984, from a self inflicted gunshot wound to the chest. However, despite the coroner ruling James death a suicide, many members of the Armstrong family did not believe this cause of death. One family member was Johnny Armstrong, Jerry and James brother. Johnny has always believed that James was killed by an unknown suspect and his death was made to look like a suicide.
Johnny has also firmly believed that Jerry was killed by the KKK, and firmly believes that on the night of Jerry’s disappearance, several roads leading to Craft Street were closed off, so that Jerry’s killer(s) would not be disturbed or stumbled upon. There has also been reports of witness intimidation, but this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Jerry’s disappearance is no longer being investigated by DCSO, as now, the Mississippi Bureau Investigation and Federal Bureau of Investigation both periodically review the case to see if they can find any new leads. More importantly, it was discovered that vital pages from Jerry’s case file were missing, and can not be located.
There was a ray of hope, though, because in 2009 the skeletal remains of a African American teenager were discovered in nearby Arkansas. However, DNA testing quickly ruled out Jerry, but this has not stopped his older brother Johnny from hoping that one day, his brothers remains will be found and returned to the family.
Jerry’s mother, Mary Armstrong passed away in 1987 from what Johnny believes to have been a broken heart. Prior to Mary passing away, she asked Johnny to never give up the search for Jerry, a promise Johnny has kept since his mother died over 30 years ago.
If you have any information that may help locate Jerry, please contact either the MBI on 662-934-3029, DCSO on 662-429-1470 and ask for Chief Inspector Roger Hutchins, or the FBI ViCAP on 800-634-4097.