"I think he taught me how to love. He taught me how to love so much it hurt. He was my best friend in the whole wild world, and I miss him." Amanda Morrow to Dothan Eagle (10/8/13)

On May 15, 1995, like every other afternoon before, 72-year-old James Aaron Toole was waiting for the afternoon school bus to drop Ashley, his youngest granddaughter, off at his home where his other granddaughter Amanda, Ashley's older sister, would pick her up. When Amanda arrived at James' home shortly before the bus arrived, James told her he would be traveling to Florida to visit a sick relative the following day and would not be home to meet them at the bus stop.

It was the last time James' granddaughters saw him.

That evening James arrived at the convenience store across the street from his home for his evening shift but left early. He stopped by his granddaughters' home and had a brief conversation with his wife and then left. A relative later passed him driving down Houston County Road 75.

James never made it to Florida, and neither he nor his car have ever been located.

According to former Houston County Sheriff Andy Hughes, James was last seen wearing a light-colored button-up shirt and brown cowboy hat. He was traveling in his 1987 brown Chevrolet Cavalier on Houston County Road 75 in Pansey.

In a 2013 interview with Dothan Eagle, Amanda recalled the last conversation she had with the man she knew as "Papa." Amanda said the conversation wasn't so much about what James had said, but how he said it and recalled him telling her "you know that I love you."

According to a 2020 post on the James Aaron Toole - Missing Person Facebook page, one of James' granddaughters was contacted by a lady who stated she had his wallet. When they received the wallet, they found it filled with photos of his grandkids and the people he loved most.

Over the years, investigators have made DNA comparisons to to some John Doe cases and even brought up a submerged car in the Chattahoochee River in 2013 that was believed to belong to James. Sadly, James nor his car have ever been found.