Name: Terry Eugene Rouse
Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: May 11, 1991
Location Last Seen: Waycross, Ware County, Georgia
Date of Birth: June 14, 1966
Age: 24 years old
Race: White
Gender: Male
Height: 6'2
Weight: 180 lbs.
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Green
Nickname/Alias: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: May have a beard, mustache, or goatee
Dentals: Not Available
Fingerprints: Not Available
DNA: Not Available
Clothing: A button-down shirt; jeans; camouflage jacket; and snake skin boots.
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: may have had a single action, .45 caliber Colt pistol with pearl handles and gold-plated trigger and hammer. One of a limited edition; serial number unknown.
Mr. Rouse was last seen at a party at a residence on Swamp Road, a nearly dead-straight, two-lane road that leads from Waycross to the Okefenokee Swamp, in the early morning hours of May 11, 1991.
A witness said that he saw Rouse as late as 3:00AM, sleeping in his Thunderbird and that the witness woke him up. When Rouse and some friends left the party, some headlights followed their car along Swamp Road and all the way into Waycross until they turned onto a side street and headed home. Later that day, a Georgia trooper found Rouse's light blue Ford Thunderbird parked halfway behind the entrance sign at Okefenokee Swamp Park, a spot easily seen from U.S. 1 and a CSX railroad. The car was left idling with its radio playing and a window rolled down. It had run out of gas and the battery was low. A pack of cigarettes and a lighter were on the passenger seat. Also in the car were a carton of cigarettes and one full bottle of beer remaining from the six-pack Rouse bought the night before.
At the time of the original investigation, there was no hard evidence of foul play. Sometime later, an inmate cleanup crew found a .22-caliber pistol in the area, but investigators could not link it to Rouse or his disappearance. Rouse had worked in South Carolina for several months up until a few weeks before he vanished and in all that time he never waited more than two weeks before contacting his mother. Rouse was facing a drunk driving charge at the time he disappeared.
In 2014, Mr. Rouse's cousin, Craig Lester Thrift, was found guilty of felony murder in the disappearance and presumed death of Mr. Rouse. Mr. Thrift admitted to beating and shooting Rouse and throwing his body in the Okefenokee Swamp. His motive for killing Rouse was because Rouse supposedly was having an affair with Thrift's wife at the time.
Agency Name: Georgia Bureau Of Investigation
Agency Contact Person: N/A
Agency Phone Number: (912) 389-4103
Agency E-Mail: Unknown
Agency Case Number: Unknown
Agency Name: Ware County / Waycross
Agency Contact Person: N/A
Agency Phone Number: (912) 287-4326
Agency E-Mail: Unknown
Agency Case Number: Unknown
NamUs Case Number: 537
NCIC Case Number: M492013741
NAMUS
Georgia Bureau Of Investigation
Florida Times-Union
WALB News 10
Added: Prior to 2011; Last Updated: 05-18-2022 - By: Htmlcnvtr
Questions or comments? Please contact appropriate member of the Area Team
** Listed information is from the time of disappearance.
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