Prayer vigil for East Texas missing

The wife of a Cass County man who went missing more than a month ago is surrounded by an army of family, friends, and advocates who seem to imbue her with an endless supply of love, support, and compassion.

Larry Bob Ballard (Bob) has been missing since April 27 and is one of many who Missing East Texas Eight and Beyond held a vigil for on Sunday at Plaza on Main in Atlanta. His wife, Connie Ballard, was there to pray for answers in what many – including Connie – deem a rather suspicious disappearance.

“He’s so handsome,” she whispered, glancing at Bob’s missing person’s flier, her eyes filling with tears.

Although she tries to put on a brave face, her naturally beautiful, tear-streaked face betrays her agony.

Connie is heartbroken. “I just want to keep his face out there, I want him found,” Connie said, her voice breaking. Connie, as well as countless volunteers, have been searching for Bob since he was last seen 39 days prior.

“It just doesn’t make sense,” Connie said. “Where is he?”

As of Sunday, Connie has been missing Bob for five weeks and four days. Roughly, that’s 936 hours; or 3,369,600 seconds of worry, anguish, and pain she has been dealt in his absence.

Bob Ballard, 56, was last seen at Cass County Roads 2116 and 2118 where his deep red, 2010 Dodge dually was stuck just northeast of Douglassville. Connie said her husband was headed from Douglassville to Atlanta to go to the feed store before getting stuck in the mud.

Bob’s brother-in-law, Connie’s brother, went and helped get Bob unstuck, but unfortunately was found to have a blown-out tire. Although Connie urged her husband to come home, he refused, saying that he didn’t want to leave his truck there and had asked for his brother-in-law to bring a tire in the morning.

The family went that Friday morning and found the truck – but not Bob. Connie said authorities came out and did a live search with family and friends riding horses, side-by-sides and even walking on foot where the woods are known to be thick. Still, they found no sign of her husband.

Connie and family members said that officials told them they pinged Bob’s phone and the data showed Bob was walking towards the area north of Douglassville around CR 2122 and Texas Highway 8 after his truck got stuck. However, strangely enough, Connie found his phone in his truck and said she can’t see him walking away from the truck without his wallet or phone.

The family, along with Missing East Texas Eight and Beyond have continued to search diligently for Bob.

Bob is 5 ft, 8 in tall, about 200 lbs, with blondish grey hair and hazel eyes. A flier made by Karen Knuckols-Phillips, with Missing East Texas Eight and Beyond, said Bob has the following tattoos and scars: Left Bicep - barbed wire, a skull, and the grim reaper with a small amount of purple color on it.

Right Bicep - similar to the tattoo on his left. Left Hand - a cross tattoo between his thumb and forefinger.

Scars - Bob has numerous scars from welding, one scar between his eyes, and a scar from his sternum to his belly button.

Anyone with information on Bob Ballard’s disappearance is encouraged to contact Detective Joe Walker, with Cass County Sheriff ’s Office at 903-756-7511 “Bob … he is my everything, I just need to know he’s okay,” Connie said.

There is a GoFundMe to help with the expenses of getting search groups out, lodged, and fed. To support Connie Ballard, her family, friends, and searchers in this effort to fund the search for her beloved husband, please visit the donation page at https://gofund.me/720ee698.

“My Husband Bob (Ballard) has been missing since April 27th, 2023. We are reaching out in desperation for the continuation of the search for him and the others who are missing in our area,” Connie Ballard wrote. “I am setting up this (fundraiser) page for this search.”

Connie further noted that, although there are not-forprofit search and rescue groups willing to come in and assist in the search for her husband, it will still cost money to get those groups here.

“There are non-profit search and rescue groups willing to come in and assist in these searches,” Connie said. “As we know this will cost (money) to lodge and feed this very important mission.

“We would sincerely and greatly appreciate any and all donations you could give and thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts,” she added.

The Missing East Texas Eight and Beyond vigil began by reading the names of more than 100 missing from East Texas and the surround areas – some from Cass County.

Tina Ford said she was more than happy to get involved in the advocacy of this group, as it is sorely needed. Ford compiled the list of the missing that was read at the vigil before prayer. Tracy Russell helped keep everyone informed with a live stream of the event for their Facebook page.

Another recently missing person is Mrs. Kathleen Spanel, 64, who went missing on September 18 of last year in the 1100 block of Cass County Road 3214. Her husband said she was last seen wearing a purple shirt, blue jeans and sneakers and that he saw her going out the kitchen door. By the time her husband got dressed and outside, Kathleen was gone.

Kathleen has had a double mastectomy, has an appendix scar and scars on both feet from clubbed foot surgery. She was described as weak and fragile.

Russell said Spanel was going through chemo and, in her opinion, couldn’t have had the energy to walk down the driveway and disappear into the sunset.

“Megan (Hervey) took it upon herself to create a group of her own for Ms. Kathleen because no one seemed to care that she had been missing,” Russell said. “She’s the reason we had the prayer vigil (originally).”

Kathleen Spanel’s husband introduced himself to Missing East Texas Eight group members as Augustine Spanel.

“You can see where (Kathleen) looks like she’s 85,” Spanel said. “She was not eating. I could get her to eat half a sandwich a day.”

“She wasn’t going through chemo anymore,” he said. “After she went crazy they said ‘well she’s not handling the chemo’ so they stopped … then they did the mastectomy after she was already crazy.”

“Somebody had to take her off somewhere,” Spanel said, adding that some 400 people had searched for her wife, including aerial searches.

“Somebody had to have taken her,” he said, again. “She disappeared three days from being 65.”

Another local, Eric Alvarado, who went missing in November 2018, turned 37 on June 6. His disappearance is baffling to family, friends and advocates who continue to search for information on his whereabouts, though his family lives in Indiana.

“We had a little birthday celebration for him here, just family,” said Lorenzo Alvarado, Eric’s father.

Please follow Missing East Texas Eight and Beyond to find out more about how you can volunteer to help and stay abreast of the latest information regarding missing persons in our area.