The Last Place You'd Look by Carole Moore

Author:Carole Moore [Moore]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
Published: 2011-06-20T16:00:00+00:00

Troy Spencer Marks. Courtesy of Ashley Y. Marks.

“I was interviewed for less than five minutes by a motorcycle officer from Ascension Parish [Louisiana]. I told him that [Troy] was an addict. Once I did this, the report was ended,” Ashley says. “He even told me that I was better off.”

Ashley says the officer also said an investigating detective would touch base with her the next day. “It’s been three-and-one-half years, and I am still waiting for that detective to interview me,” she says.

Like the mentally ill, those addicted to drugs and alcohol are more often than not given short shrift by an overburdened criminal justice system. For many officers, looking for individuals who disappear under circumstances involving drug abuse is an endless chore and one they have neither the resources nor the time to pursue.

But Ashley insists her husband is a good man, despite his chemical dependencies, and it is true that many addicts suffer from concurring, but often undiagnosed, mental disorders. While Troy has not been diagnosed with mental illness, Ashley says he fought to remain sober and never came home to his children when he was under the influence.

A handsome man with a shaved head and a goatee, Troy has blue eyes that sparkle with wit and a couple of distinctive tattoos, including one of Yosemite Sam holding a gun and a football. When he disappeared, Troy lived in New Orleans, where he worked concrete in the rebuilding efforts following Hurricane Katrina. On June 6, 2006, a friend dropped him off near North Dourgenois Street. Later that day, Troy failed to show up for work. He has not been heard from since. Some time later, his abandoned truck was located in the parking lot of a Baton Rouge apartment complex under suspicious circumstances.

Ashley says she knows deep in her heart of hearts that her Troy met with foul play. She understands better than anyone that his drug habits often led him to go to dark places where he should not have been. But she also believes that Troy’s bad choices in life shouldn’t result in his marginalization as a human being; nor, says Ashley, should it affect his status as a missing person.

She thinks law enforcement responds faster to missing persons who are mentally ill than to missing addicts and alcoholics—that they are society’s last priority.

“I believe people look at drug addicts as low[lives],” Ashley says. “I want the world to know that regardless of what a person is, an addict or a mental patient, these are people. These are sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, wives, husbands. They do not deserve to be dismissed because they are not perfect members of society.”

Ashley did get someone to listen to her—the police in Baton Rouge, where her missing husband’s truck was found. Ashley believes the detective assigned to her husband’s case (Detective Larry Maples of the Baton Rouge Police Department) wants to find Troy—or find out what happened to him. “He keeps the communication lines open and respects my opinion,” Ashley says of Detective Maples.

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