July 13, 2026 | By: Everney Benjamin

This story is part of a collaborative project between Project: Cold Case and the University of North Florida’s Applied Journalism class.

Cole Jackson was a quintessential country boy. He loved hunting, fishing, and being outdoors, especially in the woods. Even his favorite movie, “Where the Red Fern Grows,” was centered around hunting.

“Some of my favorite memories are hunting with my brothers,” said Cole’s sister, Cheyenne Gray.

She also described him as “the coolest guy” who had plenty of friends, played football, and was known as a ladies’ man.

Everything changed when the cool kid turned cool adult disappeared in 2006, and while his family would like to think he’s still alive, they are pretty resigned to his death. They’d just like to know what happened to him.

Born on January 10, 1973, in Gilmer, Texas, Cole was one of three siblings. He had an older brother, Rebel, and his young sister, Cheyenne, or as he called her, “Punk.” Rebel and Cole were 10 and nine years older than Cheyenne and were her protectors.

His sister said that Cole would always try to be there for his family in any way he could. “He might have showed up late, but he showed up.”

She described him as quite the charming guy despite his diminutive height. “He was short and stocky, but had no little man complex,” said Gray.

He had bright blue eyes, a sailboat scar on his right cheek, and his initials “CJ” tattooed on the back of his shoulder in the shape of a lightning bolt that she wishes she had a picture of so she could get the same one as a permanent memento of her brother.

After Cole graduated high school, he attended Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) in Nacogdoches, Texas. SFA is known as a party school. Everything was fine initially, until he was introduced to stronger substances by the wrong kinds of people at these parties.

“The drugs were the beginning of the end,” said Gray. Despite his substance abuse, she didn’t see her brother any differently. “I never saw him as less of a person,” she said. He did not fit the stereotype of drug addicts. He ate well, was able to get sleep, and was social.

After college, he moved to Chireno, Texas. While living there, he worked many different jobs. “Cole was a jack of all trades,” Gray said. He made his living by doing just about anything he could get paid for.

Cole’s best friend, Brandon Dodd, said that he never worked the same job for too long. “Working was a means to an end, and it typically did end,” he said. “He was continually finding new rainbows to chase.”

Cole later decided to settle down and was living a happy life with his new wife, Kim, who was three months pregnant.

Prior to Cole’s final disappearance, he had gone missing for a brief period. That night, he told his wife that he was going to go out. It was normal for him to go into the woods and do his own thing.

But after a few days, no one had heard anything from him. Both his sister and Kim exhausted all their options looking for him. They avoided getting authorities or their parents involved, wanting to do their own search first. Cole eventually returned home after a couple of days.

According to Gray, her brother had been with some people he should not have been with. She had been extremely worried about her brother, especially given that he had severe asthma. “I thought every horrible thought that you could have. He’s dead in a ditch, he’s had an asthma attack and he has drowned,” his sister said.

Gray said that she has always been very protective of her brother. She was always willing to cover for him, and Cole was the same way. Two weeks before he officially went missing, Gray asked her brother to promise that he would at least let her know that he was safe if something of the sort were to happen again.

The night before he disappeared in the summer of 2006, he had gotten into an argument with his wife after he wouldn’t tell her who he was on the phone with. Out of frustration, he sped off in his truck, and later sent a final text to his wife, stating that he would be home in a while.

According to Gray, Cole ended up at a friend’s house in Timpson, Texas that night. The morning after, the two of them stopped at a gas station to get food and cigarettes, and while his friend was inside the store, Cole sped off.

The friend called Cole to ask what he was doing and said that he sounded paranoid over the phone asking, “Who do you have after me?”

In a video titled “Where is Cole Duane Jackson? Missing in Texas,” Cole is seen speeding until he ran through a man’s garden fence. The man, Drewy Bradshaw, would be the last known person to see Cole alive.

Bradshaw says that Cole apologized profusely, offering to pay for the damages, but also says that he was in a hurry to get out of there, telling the man, “I’ve got bad people after me.”

Bradshaw let him leave, saying later that he looked scared. Jackson got in his truck again and began to drive until eventually getting his truck stuck in a ravine.

When the truck was found, it was still in four-wheel drive with the driver’s side door open. Gray said that on the ground next to the truck were Marlboro Reds, a small notebook, and a pocketknife.

Cole made two final calls to the friend he had left at the store. In one of them, he was heard running. The friend tried to calm him down, worried he might have an asthma attack. The second time he called, he was calmer and asked the friend to pick him up on the road. The friend agreed but did not find him at the appointed spot. That was the last time anyone ever heard from Cole.

When Gray first got the call that her brother had disappeared again, she was angry because he had failed on the promise to let her know he was safe. His sister says that her brother’s last words to her were, “Punk, you know you don’t have to worry about me because when I hide, I hide good,” More than two decades later with no contact, Cole’s family knows he wouldn’t hide from them this long.

Gray and Kim searched like they did before, not coming up with any answers. Gray even called the people he was found with the previous time, but they were also unaware of his whereabouts.

They still avoided contacting the authorities. “We did not want to call and say he was missing and then give them a reason to hunt him down,” Gray said, but after two weeks of searching, she finally told their parents about his disappearance.

Cole was officially reported missing on July 13th, 2006, by his mother. He was 33 years old at the time and had been missing for about four weeks.

His sister says she’s no longer angry with her brother, she simply wants to know what happened to him. Their father also had the same mindset before his untimely passing.

On one of the searches, Gray and her father found a pair of white Polo shoes that belonged to Jackson near where his truck was found. His wedding ring was inside of the right shoe, but unfortunately, this piece of evidence did not lead to much because the shoes were never tested forensically.

Cole’s mom and brother went about things differently.

According to Gray, Shane Jackson was a loving and nurturing mother. When she heard Cole’s disappearance, she was very involved in the case and dedicated a lot of time to finding her son. After a while, she stopped searching. She accepted what happened for the betterment of her health, but she will still ask for updates when Gray finds new information. She currently works as a drug and alcohol counselor, and although she didn’t understand Cole’s way of life, she was proud of him.

Jackson’s brother, Rebel, acted similarly to his mom. Two years into the search for Cole, the two of them held a memorial for Cole. “That was their goodbye…that was their closure with it,” Gray said.

Jackson’s best friend Dodd only has good things to say about him. “My life is better because of the brotherhood that we shared.” Dodd, as well as some of Cole’s other friends, turned their lives around after his disappearance. Dodd became a father, and even ran for Upshur County judge.

“Rainbow after the storm scenario,” said Gray.

As for Gray, she is still searching for Jackson. From the start, she was requesting records to search through, looking through her mother’s notes to put some of the pieces together, even talking with psychics and mediums. “It just mentally takes a toll,” she said.

On the 10th anniversary of her brother’s disappearance, she planted a Redfern where his truck was found, in tribute to his favorite movie.

July 13, 2026, marks 20 years since Cole Duane Jackson went missing, and his sister still hopes that an answer will come saying, “I gotta keep the hope on it. I have faith in God’s time.”

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Anyone with information concerning Cole Duane Jackson’s disappearance is asked to call the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office at (936) 598-5601. To remain anonymous and possibly be eligible for a reward, call Shelby County Crime Stoppers at (936) 639-8477.

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