Joseph Leon Burris

• Missing Since 11/20/1988
• Missing From Chadbourn, North Carolina
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Male
• Race Black
• Age 25 years old
• Height and Weight 5'9, 170 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description Only shorts.
• Associated Vehicle(s) Red 1988 Oldsmobile (accounted for)
• Distinguishing Characteristics Black male. Black hair, brown eyes. Burris wears dentures. He goes by his middle name, Leon.

Details of Disappearance

Burris was last seen at his home in Chadbourn, North Carolina at 4:00 p.m. on November 20, 1988. A man came to his home, forced him at gunpoint into a red 1988 Oldsmobile, and drove away. Burris has never been heard from again. The vehicle was he was taken away in was later recovered.

His kidnapper was identified quickly as Claudie Allen Jacobs, who was arrested on December 3 and charged with kidnapping. Burris had been having an affair with Jacobs's wife while Jacobs, a construction worker, worked in Tampa, Florida. When Jacobs found out about this, he returned to North Carolina to confront Burris, and kidnapped him.

Jacobs was convincted of felonious restraint in Burris's case, but not guilty of kidnapping or false imprisonment, and was sentenced to three years in prison. He served only five and a half months before he was released. Burris has never been found.