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Chapter 1: What happened to Jimmy Riddle in Fayetteville, North Carolina?
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If you're ready for a story full of secrets, surprises, and a final turn that will stay with you, grab your paperback copy of The Missing Half now, wherever books are sold. Our card this week is Jimmy Jamie Riddle, the Nine of Diamonds from North Carolina.
In the fall of 1991, just as the season was starting to change, a couple fishing at sunrise at a small lake in Fayetteville, North Carolina, noticed something floating near the surface of the water. At first, they thought it was a blow-up doll. But upon closer inspection, the couple saw hair on the legs and realized... This wasn't a doll.
Chapter 2: Who was Max Riddle and how did he react to the news?
It was a human being. A person who would be identified as 24-year-old Jimmy Riddle. Jimmy was also known to some of their friends as Jamie. But how much their identity played into their death isn't clear. What police have to go on are potential witness statements, items left at the crime scene, and maybe, just maybe, DNA.
Nearly 35 years after Riddle's killing, there is a new detective on the case. A detective determined to unearth answers once and for all. I'm Ashley Flowers, and this is The Deck. On the evening of September 26, 1991, Max Riddle was sitting at home in Fayetteville when the phone rang.
It was someone that he knew saying that he should watch the news that night because his younger sibling might be on TV. Now, the tone of the call must not have been ominous because Max sat back on the couch and held his baby, thinking that his brother, who he knew as Jimmy, was going to be highlighted in some way.
Now, through our reporting, we learned that Riddle also went by Jamie on occasion, though their family didn't know that. So throughout this episode, they will refer to their brother as Jimmy. And because of that, you'll hear us refer to them as Riddle. According to reports, a couple of friends say that Riddle used Jimmy and Jamie interchangeably and often wore feminine clothing.
But no one knew exactly how they identified. To their family, it didn't matter.
I don't think it was ever talked about because we weren't raised to be like that to people and stuff. We were raised to be nice and be kind to everybody. And it doesn't matter what they are or what they do.
Riddle was loved within the family for being charming and charismatic. Someone who, and I know this is going to sound cheesy, but it's true. Someone who could light up a room. So when Max sat down on the couch with his new baby in his arms, he was excited to see what was going to come on TV. Because in his mind, it could only be something good.
I didn't know if he was on a TV show or what, but when the news came on, it said they found a body. And when they did, they were trying to find out who it was that identified the body.
The body they spoke about had been found earlier that day, floating face down in College Lake. They didn't show pictures, didn't even give many identifiers. But instantly, Max's world shifted. That call he'd gotten earlier that day took on a different tone.
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Chapter 3: What evidence was found at the crime scene of Jimmy Riddle?
And when the news anchor made a call to the public asking anyone who might be able to identify the victim to come forward, Max knew that he was going to have to be that person. Now, Max never found out how that friend knew what happened first. And now that he's passed away, we can't ask that friend. But at the time, Max, who is a military veteran, instinctively snapped into action.
He gently handed his baby to his wife, grabbed his keys, and drove straight to Cape Fear Valley Medical Center. It was the only place that he knew to go.
I went to the desk and I asked, I said, hey, I was told that my brother was found dead and that he was here, that somebody needed to identify him. So they ended up getting somebody and they took me back there and they pulled the sheet up over his head. That's when I knew it was him.
In that dark moment, Max quickly became the family's point person. It was a role that made sense to everyone who knew him. The Riddle family are members of the Lumbee tribe, the largest Native American tribe east of the Mississippi River. And Max had long carried a deep sense of responsibility to his family. He was the first to graduate from high school.
And when his mother, who was only able to attend school through the fifth grade, wanted to learn to read and write, it was Max who patiently taught her. He was the one that people leaned on, the one who stepped up. So when the person he'd known all of his life as his brother Jimmy was killed, that same instinct to protect his family pulled Max to become the nerve center of this tragedy.
Max got on the phone calling his mother in Florida and all three of his siblings to share the horrible news. And for all of the calls he made, Max told our reporter Annie Roderick-Jones that there was one call that he was expecting to get that just never came.
I don't recall nobody ever reaching out to me from the police department or nowhere.
Never reaching out to you?
No, ma'am. I don't recall none of that.
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Chapter 4: What challenges did the police face in investigating Jimmy's murder?
And what did you think when you were watching that? We were just wondering who it was. You know, never in a million years did I think it was my brother. And then how did you find out it was your brother? Matt called and told me that it was Jimmy that they found. And then after that, Ann, did police come to your house to talk to you? No. We've never spoken to the police.
They've never talked to me. And did you wonder when they were going to call you? Yeah, always. It was like, surely they'll be talking to us. Yeah, that's our little brother. But the call never came. Why do you think that is? Personally, I think it's because he was a little gay Indian boy. They didn't care. You know, just another gay guy. Who cares?
For their family, it seemed like no one did. Anne says she last saw her sibling about a month before the murder, when they'd come to do her hair and makeup for a date. She says that's who Riddle was, helpful, attentive, someone who liked making the people around them feel good. Which is what made the next time she laid eyes on her younger sibling of five years so shocking.
It was the day of the funeral, right before the service.
You could see it on his face when we went to see him. They tried to cover it up, but you couldn't cover up all the bruises on his face. They beat him. Whoever it was, beat him. And nobody deserves that. I don't care who they are. They don't deserve that.
The beating isn't what killed Riddle. Their official cause of death is listed in the autopsy report as drowning, complicated by ligature strangulation. But the family was in the dark about that when they laid their loved one to rest in Harper's Ferry Baptist Church Cemetery alongside the rest of their family.
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Chapter 5: How did the Riddle family cope with the aftermath of the murder?
For decades, the grave had no headstone. I mean, for many years, it was an expense that the family couldn't afford. But in 2021, Max was finally able to buy one, giving his siblings and the family a place where they could come to grieve and lay flowers. But Riddle's mother never got to see that headstone. She died in 2020, nearly 30 years after her child was murdered.
You know, every mom has a favorite. They won't come and tell you. But we knew it. They had just a special relationship. And we knew it, but we didn't care, you know? We all had a good relationship with our mom. But it broke her, you know? Especially she died not knowing who killed her baby.
For almost 30 years, she knew even less than that. The whole family had been left completely in the dark about the police investigation. And they didn't have the strength to push. I think we have this unrealistic expectation of families sometimes. We want them to fight, to demand answers and investigate themselves and fill in investigative gaps where a department falls short.
But that's not their job. They shouldn't have to. And sometimes just surviving is the hardest thing to do. Anne and Max had young families of their own that they needed to be there for. You don't get to stop showing up to work when something like this happens in your family. They don't defer the water bill or your mortgage.
The way they survived was by moving forward one step at a time, one day at a time, hoping that one day the phone was going to ring and they would finally get that long-awaited call from police. Well, that phone did ring over three decades later, but it wasn't police on the other end. It was us calling.
And the timing, it was serendipitous because not only were we able to help bring together police and family for the first time in over 30 years, it came right at a time when a new detective had been assigned the case and he was able to share some major breakthroughs. Hi, everyone. Ashley here with some exciting news.
The deck will not only land right here in your feed for you to listen to every week, but now we are also on camera for you to watch on YouTube. Now you can see the cards, the case files, and the people behind the coldest cases as I share these stories with you. So no matter where you get your podcasts, whether you prefer to listen, to watch, or maybe both,
I will be there with stories you need to hear. Join me for The Deck on YouTube. Subscribe to Audiochuck Investigates on YouTube today. When the deck team reached out to Max Riddle in December 2025, he was happy to talk with us. But he was pretty upfront that he knew next to nothing about the actual investigation, which we took as a challenge.
Even if we couldn't solve the case, just getting answers for the Riddle family would be a huge step forward. So our team reached out to the Fayetteville Police Department, and we were connected with Detective Joseph Bergamine. And there was something I can only describe as fate about the timing of this call.
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Chapter 6: What new developments occurred in the investigation after 30 years?
Because Detective Bergamine had just recently, like a couple of months before we called, picked up a few of the department's cold cases. And this was one of them. When Annie sat down with him, a stack of handwritten notes was spread across his desk. His attempt at consolidating the information that had accumulated over many years via work by multiple detectives.
Detective Bergamine walked our team through how the investigation began and how, more than 30 years later, they're still trying to piece together what happened back in 1991 when Riddle was found in the lake.
So officers and detectives were called to the scene. They did notate that there were tire tracks in the sand, and they actually took a tire cast from those tracks. They also found several items of evidence that they documented.
When Riddle was pulled from the shallow water, the only thing they had on were white nylons pulled below the waist, black knee-high boots, and a single dangly earring hanging from one ear. But more of their stuff was found on the ground, not too far away from the water's edge.
They observed some blood in a dirt area approximately 50 feet away from the water. Around that same area there's a disturbance in the sand. From that disturbance in the sand they then see drag marks which appear to be like someone's feet dragging towards the water. Some items of evidence that they collected was a pink wallet or purse, an earring that matches the one that Jimmy had on.
They also collected a beer carton as well as two beer cans with that, a condom wrapper, a condom that was used, and a military-style belt buckle.
I know a crime junkie's mind instantly goes to the used condom or beer cans thinking about DNA. But the belt buckle was actually a really interesting find because that told them something.
The belt buckle is described in the file as being a military style belt buckle, which led me to believe that it probably did belong to a male.
This was important because they did find what they believed was Riddle's clothing at the scene, a skirt, shirt, and jean jacket. That belt buckle was the outlier and likely belonged to the killer, who might have been military, which would make a lot of sense, but would also open them up to a large suspect pool.
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Chapter 7: Who is the potential suspect identified in the case?
Terry Hunt was at his trailer, located at 18 Shaw Road in the Thomas Mobile Home Parks, by 2.45 or 3 o'clock that morning. And that's when Riddle, Shay, and this other truck guy showed up wanting to use Terry's place for a sexual encounter. One of Terry's friends who was there told police that Riddle was charging the men $20 each, but Terry wouldn't agree to let them use his trailer.
He said no, and so some arguing between Riddle and Terry ensued. And then Riddle supposedly walks off on foot, alone, back in the direction of Bragg Boulevard.
Chapter 8: What does the future hold for the investigation into Jimmy Riddle's murder?
The occupants of the trailer then advised that two white males get into a red GMC truck and they drive away to the same direction as where Jimmy was last seen walking.
Now that walk to Brad Boulevard would have been a quick 15 minutes, but no one reported seeing Riddle again. Instead, a few hours later and seven miles away, Riddle is found face down in College Lake. Police don't know how Riddle made it to College Lake or who was there with them. But evidence suggests that the GMC truck may have made it there at some point.
So they took cast of the tires at the boat ramp as well as tire tracks at 818 Shaw Road. They sent those both to the state lab to be compared.
According to Detective Bergamine, the lab report they got back read, quote, The tire track impressions represented are of similar type of tread design and could have been made by the same brand of tire. However, the questioned impressions are of insufficient quality and detail to determine if the questioned impressions were made by the same tire.
End quote.
So kind of a long, jargony way to say, maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. Whether or not it was the same tire impressions at both the trailer location and the lake, detectives knew that finding the two mystery men was their best bet at moving this case forward. So they had a composite created of both of them, and they made that public. The guy named Shea appeared to be in his early 20s.
He was 6'2", about 165 pounds, with a muscular build, and he was clean-shaven. He had sandy blonde, short-cropped hair with a distinct hairline. If you're not watching this, it's a little hard to describe, but it's like he has a deep widow's peak, but it's deeper on his right side, so it looks almost slanted. Now the other guy, he's also a white guy in his 20s.
He was shorter, about 5'7 and maybe 150 pounds with short and what honestly looks kind of like wavy or curly dark brown hair. Now he had a mustache and glasses with what I can only describe as like a late 80s style frames. The black and white pencil drawing makes this guy come across a little older than his 20s. So if you're not watching right now, think like your high school biology teacher.
Now, Shay looks distinctly military, but guy number two's mustache was throwing me a little bit. I mean, I assumed military men had to be clean shaven. Well, shame on me. Assume nothing. I looked up the Army's grooming standards, AR 670-1, which were in effect in the late 20th century.
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