More than three months after his brother went missing, Aaron Crump is growing frustrated with the Raleigh County Sheriff's Office.
"I can't get a call back from them," he said. "I don't think they're taking this seriously at all."
Rumors are swirling in Raleigh County about what happened to Chaz Alfred Richardson, 26, a father of a two.
Richardson was last seen saying he was going into the woods on Dec. 3 at his home in Surveyor, Raleigh County. Police said he was reported missing on Dec. 7.
Crump, who lives in Beckley, said several people were there at the time.
He said that early on in the case, police told him they believed Richardson had returned to their home state of Florida. He doesn't think they started actively looking for Richardson until after Christmas.
Crump doesn't have any theories on what might have happened to his brother. He doesn't know of any disagreements his brother may have had with anyone, or abnormal behavior, although he notes they didn't see each other often. They did talk a couple times a week.
Richardson has two daughters, ages 5 and 3. His birthday is on Wednesday. Before he disappeared, he worked as a line cook and dish washer at Cracker Barrel.
"He's never done anything like this in his entire life," Crump said. "He's always had my mom and everyone helping him out. For him to up and leave and quit his job and start over - that's not going to happen."
Detective C.D. Suman, lead investigator on the case, was tight-lipped when speaking about the investigation.
"We have several working theories," he said.
He did say that some articles belonging to Richardson were found in the woods, although he wouldn't say what.
He took issue with the notion police aren't working hard on the case.
"I want to find him just as much as the family does," he said. "We run all tips that come in. We check out numerous theories. ... One will say one thing; one will say something that's completely contradictory to the other."
Suman said there is currently no evidence to support a homicide investigation.
Crump had said he didn't believe the first search of the woods took place until after Christmas. Suman said, and a local Trap Hill fire official confirmed, that the first search took place on Dec. 11.
"That was due to coordination, weather and when the dogs were available," Suman said.
Reach Erin Beck at
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