A hand-drawn map sent to police in Dunn this summer may be trying to tell them where to find the body of a man who hasn't been seen since almost two decades, but they just can't be sure. They do believe he probably was murdered, however.

Investigators say they never got a report that Jimmy Davis was missing, but his sister, Gaylena Harris, says he has not been seen since Christmas morning in 1987, when he made a relatively rare appearance at a family gathering. He would be 62 today.

"The last time I saw him was Christmas," Gaylena Harris said. "He came on his own terms, and we would go see him, you know."

She said Davis never missed Christmas, though, or Mother's Day or their mother's birthday, April 16. Their mother died in 1999, never knowing what happened to one of her nine children.

"It's just like the earth opened up and swallowed him in, you know, just wiped him from the face," Gaylena Harris says.

Davis grew up in Dunn. He last lived a mile from mother.

Sgt. Bill Brady of the Dunn police says the map shows where Davis might be buried, but it does not give enough detail for investigators to find the spot. It has "Jimmy" scrawled on it. Nobody knows who sent it.

Police would like the sender to call them, Brady said. The State Bureau of Investigation and the Harnett County Sheriff's Department are also investigating this case.

"Or if they could send us another map with more detailed information, we'd appreciate it," Brady said.

Detectives believe the missing person was murdered, but the mysterious map has given Jimmy's sister hope of finding out what happened.

"Maybe it's a person that can't live with what they know, can't continue to live with what they know," Harris said.