Cold Case Files: What happened to Samuel "Dickie" Riser 10 years ago in Kanawha County?
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS/WVAH) — This December marks 10 years since an eastern Kanawha County coal mine worker was last seen alive and while investigators do have persons of interest in the case, they don't have the evidence needed to secure an arrest.
Samuel Richard Riser, who went by Dickie, has been missing since Dec. 8, 2010. He was 60 years old and was last seen at his home in the 300 block of Third Avenue in Glasgow.
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"We learned on Dec. 8, he had some activity on some bank accounts, some phone records. There are some things in his house that we found that would indicate he was still at his house on Dec. 8," Kanawha County Sheriff's Office Chief of Detectives Lt. Sean Snuffer said. "Everything that we feel led to his disappearance may have occurred either late on Dec. 8 or Dec. 9."
Eyewitness News has interviewed Riser's sister, Linda Barnette, and daughter, Michelle White several times since his disappearance as they pressed for answers in Riser's disappearance and made pleas for someone to come forward with information that would lead to his body being found and an arrest being made.
Barnette has since passed away with no developments in the case that would bring the family any closure.
"There's been no updates, it's at a end end," Barnette said on the five-year anniversary of her brother's disappearance. "It hurts."
Barnette also talked about his love of singing and country music.
"We want the people to know that we have feelings, our family is suffering and we just want our brother's remains back," she said.
Eyewitness News spoke with White in 2012 when she said what bothered her the most was "my kids when they get upset. They don't understand what happened. He was gone my whole adult life and he just moved back here. My kids were just getting to know him and now they never will."
To this day, Riser's body has not been found. It's a mystery that not only haunts his family but also investigators who have run into many dead-ends.
"Right now, we have exhausted all of the leads we've received on Mr. Riser's case. We currently have some individuals of interest, we are still looking at them. We do not know or have not heard where Mr. Riser's body could be," Snuffer said.
The persons of interest in the case have never been publicly identified.
"There's no closure, of course. There's no body, there's no funeral. All you can do is think, of course, the worst of what happened that night," said Tressie Cabell, a family friend and private investigator on the case, during an interview with Eyewitness News in 2017.
Detectives have kept many of the details of the investigation guarded over the years, but it is know that Riser's disappearance was discovered after he didn't show up for work.
"They happened to realize he hadn't been at work for three days, so they in turn, got a hold of his landlord. His landlord went to the residence. They had a key to the house and went inside the house and found that the TV was on in the house and some lights were on in the house which, they say, was very odd for Mr. Riser," Snuffer said.
Detectives said they discovered blood inside the home that was enough to indicate there had been some sort of altercation in the house. Also of note, nothing was stolen from the home and a large amount of cash was still inside. Snuffer said everything in the home was in tact. Riser's car was also still sitting outside.
"We think it was personal. We think the crime happened. We think Samuel Riser knew the person who came into the house and possibly even left with them," Snuffer said.
A motive for Riser's presumed murder and disappearance has also never been released.
"We know that Mr. Riser was involved with a female in the community. We've looked into that aspect. We don't feel that he was involved in anything illegal, any narcotics or anything like that," Snuffer said.
Investigators said their leads have simply been exhausted, and they are hoping to secure more information soon to give the case a fresh start.
"They've got numerous leads on locations on where Mr. Riser could possibly be. They've got maps, they've conducted searches in that area with cadaver dogs, there's been abandoned mines they've went to, they've searched those areas. They've searched areas where water is located. They've searched those areas with K9s," Snuffer said.
Detectives sympathize with family members in their fight for answers as they share the frustration over the case and say it's not too late to come forward with information.
"If somebody would even call us now and give us a location on where they thought Mr. Riser was, we would go to that area, we would try to map it out. Determine who owned it and then from that point we would use cadaver dogs, we would use, there's ground penetrating radars that can be used," Snuffer said.
If you have any information about Riser's disappearance or where his body could be found, you can call 304-357-0169. You can also email them at tips@kanawhasheriff.us or submit a tip on their website.
If you have information you would like to pass on to Eyewitness News regarding a cold case or have an idea for a case that should be covered, you can email coldcases@wchtv.com.
