Wife of missing man still looking for answers two years after disappearance


John Cole has been missing for two years, and his wife Angela, pictured with him in this file photo, is still searching for any information in the case.

John Cole, who was last seen May 21, 2019, is 48 years old, stands 6 feet 3 inches and weighs approximately 160 pounds. He has blue eyes and brownish gray hair. He has been clean shaven and worn a beard at different times in the past, as shown in these photos. The tip of his left thumb is missing. Anyone with information about Cole’s whereabouts is asked to call the Ozark County Sheriff’s Department at 417-679-4633 or the Taney County Sheriff’s Department at 417-546-7250.

The two-year anniversary of John Cole’s disappearance looms this Friday, May 21, and his wife Angela says it doesn’t feel like they’re any closer to finding out where he is than the day he left. 

“It is hard not knowing if he’s alive or deceased somewhere,” she told the Times late last week.

She’s started a Facebook page titled, “Missing~John Edward Cole (Taney County, Missouri)” where she shares information about her husband and his disappearance. She’s also helping to get the word out about other missing people too.

“There are more and more people going missing every day, and I pass on their posters hoping I can help those families too,” Angela said. “People don’t realize how many people are missing until they have one of their own family members go missing.”

The Coles’ residence is in the Big Creek area, just west of Theodosia in Taney County. Both John and Angela are Lutie High School graduates and are well known to many Ozark Countians. 

Cole, who would be 48 this year, was last seen May 22, 2019, walking on County Road 644 (Stehle Road) wearing a light gray shirt, blue jeans, black lace-up boots, a wallet with a chain and a ball cap. He is 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 160 pounds with blue eyes and brownish gray hair. Sometimes he has worn a beard and other times he’s kept his facial hair shorter. The tip of his left thumb is missing. 

Angela reported him missing in May 2019. He was known to walk far distances and be out of contact with his family for lengths of time, Angela told the Times late last year, but she says he has never been out of contact for this long.

“Our son dropped him off at his cousin’s house in Ocie,” Angela told the Times in November 2019. “That was the last time any of us, his immediate family, saw him. A neighbor saw him walking on the Big Creek bridge after that. The cousin whose house he went to said his brother was the last one to see him, and that was on Stehle Road.”

Some wondered if the skeletal remains found in a wooded area of Taney County by a mushroom hunter on April 10 could be those of Cole, but Branson Police confirmed that the bones belonged to Branson resident Deborah Brown, who went missing in 2017. 

Angela says she’s heard other rumors of human remains being found, but she hasn’t received any information from area law enforcement about the discoveries. 

“You know how the rumor mill is,” she said. 

Still, she holds on to hope that one day she can be reunited with her husband or rest easy knowing he’s no longer living.

“If someone knows something, I wish they’d come forward so the kids and I know whether to grieve or be hopeful,” she said. 

Anyone with information about Cole or his whereabouts is asked to call the Ozark County Sheriff’s Department at 417-679-4633 or the Taney County Sheriff’s Department at 417-546-7250.

Ozark County Times

504 Third Steet
PO Box 188
Gainesville, MO 65655

Phone: (417) 679-4641
Fax: (417) 679-3423