BOISE, Idaho — This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press.
A Boise man has been missing for 15 years and there are still no answers surrounding his disappearance.
Jeramy Burt, 33, went missing after leaving his father’s house on Feb. 11, 2007. He was en route to a friend's home but never arrived there, according to his mother, Sheryl Burt.
To this day, Jeramy Burt has never been located.
The Burt family held a vigil in honor of the 15-year mark of his disappearance in American Falls at the Lower Boat Dock on Friday at 5 p.m. to release lanterns.
“Thank you for all the love and support that has been given to us during these long 15 years and for the continued love and support in the future. We will remember Jeramy every day and we will never give up,” Sheryl Burt said.
Boise Police Sgt. Justin Kendall said the case trail remains cold with no new updates.
Jeramy Burt was a Navy service member who loved his daughter, Mackenzie — so in love with her that when she was born, Sheryl Burt said, he wrote a poem about her. He never would have left his daughter, she said.
“I sleep with a picture of him under my pillow, and I have for 15 years,” Sheryl Burt said.
When he disappeared, his ex-wife Kim George reported him missing.
George, who later passed away in 2016, received cryptic texts from Jeramy Burt's phone shortly after he disappeared, saying that he was leaving to start a new life, according to Sheryl Burt. George didn’t believe they were from him and neither did Sheryl Burt.
Former Boise Police detective Jeff Wudarcki, who worked the case at one point, said around the time of Burt's disappearance, his credit card was used in Mountain Home, about 30 minutes outside of Boise.
In the months after Burt went missing, his 2003 Mercury Cougar was found burned up in the Owyhee Desert.
“There were cowboys out there riding the range, checking on the cows, and found his car, because the car was well hidden. Whoever drove that car into where he was parked and burned, damaged the car getting it there,” Sheryl Burt said. “I would never wish this pain on anyone.”
She added that his phone and wallet have still never been found.
Sheryl Burt remains adamant that her son would never have started a new life without his daughter.
“Where the hell could he be?” she said. “He would never have left Mackenzie behind.”
Police were never able to charge anyone in relation to Burt's disappearance.
"We're still waiting for that information to come out or for remains to be found to produce some evidence off of that," Wudarcki said. "We just need another piece of information."
This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press, read more on IdahoPress.com.
Watch more Local News:
See the latest news from around the Treasure Valley and the Gem State in our YouTube playlist:
