Replay: James Lewis Part 2 - The Airport
The Vanished Podcast
Wondery
4.5 • 15K Ratings
🗓️ 5 August 2025
⏱️ 61 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This episode originally aired on July 17, 2023. Jim Lewis was a decorated veteran who had recently retired after serving in the United States Army for 25 years. Jim and his wife, Patsy, purchased a home in Fayetteville, North Carolina, which was intended to be their forever home, after having moved around the US and the world for many years. They were finally putting down their roots, and Patsy was able to start hanging those pictures on the walls. However, it didn't even last a year, as in October 1982, Jim pulled out of the driveway, headed to a job interview in Vero Beach, Florida, and never came home. The police were convinced that Jim had willingly abandoned his family, and they showed no interest in investigating. His family did what they could on their own, but that wasn't bringing them any solid answers. Then, Jim's car was found months later at the local airport in Fayetteville. It had been parked there since October 6, 1982, three days after Jim left, supposedly to drive to Florida. None of it seemed to make sense to his family. He always cared for them and wouldn't have left them this way. Over the years, some clues have been revealed that could point to an outcome no one ever saw coming.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Half my dad's career. |
| 0:02.0 | Half my dad's career in the military was covert operations. |
| 0:15.0 | If he wanted to disappear, he could. |
| 0:17.0 | I realize that, I know that, I've been told that by all those other Greenboro buddies. |
| 0:22.3 | But to a T, every one of them said the same thing. Your dad would not just leave. |
| 0:26.5 | Talking about the guy that made sure in the jungles of Vietnam got a way to call my mom |
| 0:32.4 | before she got the visit from the Red Cross people telling him that he'd been shot again. |
| 0:37.1 | Not just shot, but shot again. Not just shot, |
| 0:38.4 | the shot again. I think part of what makes Jim Lewis's case much more complicated is the |
| 0:45.6 | suspicion we have that it goes not only beyond state lines, but he might have gone outside the |
| 0:52.0 | country. And I think at that point, to expect any kind of coordination, |
| 0:57.0 | I mean, there are in some cases, especially with enforced |
| 1:00.0 | disappearances. |
| 1:01.0 | There's international collaboration and coordination. |
| 1:04.0 | But as far as I know, there's not a lot, |
| 1:07.0 | except maybe sometimes through embassies and consulates. |
| 1:10.0 | Last week, we brought you the first part of Jim Lewis's story. |
| 1:13.6 | Jim Lewis was a decorated veteran who had recently retired after serving in the United States Army for 25 years. |
| 1:21.6 | Jim and his wife, Patsy, purchased a home in Fayetteville, North Carolina. |
| 1:26.6 | That was supposed to be their forever home, |
| 1:29.1 | after moving all over the United States and the world for many years. They were finally putting their |
| 1:34.9 | roots down, and Patsy was able to start hanging those pictures on the walls. But it didn't even |
... |
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