Search called off in Crumpler
for body of missing Jimmy Blevins
By Melanie Marshall

Authorities in Ashe County dug up a 100-foot section of Smithey Road in Crumpler, but did not find what they were looking for – the body of Jimmy Blevins.

Blevins was reported missing in February 2007.

He was last seen with his uncle, Freddie Hammer. Hammer is currently serving life without the possibility of parole in Virginia after pleading guilty to murder in May.

Hammer killed three men on a Grayson County, Va., Christmas tree farm in January of last year.

He has been a suspect in Blevins’ disappearance from early in the investigation.

Hammer has continually denied killing his nephew.

Acting on what Ashe County Sheriff James Williams described as good information, deputies and officers of the State Bureau of Investigation dug up the 100-foot section of the road near the New River.

A cadaver hunting dog and radar were used to search the area Tuesday.

The search was called off at 4 p.m.

Smithey Road was a dirt road when Blevins went missing, but road crews were beginning to pave it.