State, local authorities to begin search for man's remains

CENTER POINT, Okla. (AP) -- For years, Bill Sipes would pass the site of an old southern Oklahoma schoolhouse near his home and ask its present owners of "Old Jack" was causing them any problems.

"When we asked what he was talking about, he'd just say something about Jack being the man in the well," said Vera Amend, who owns the property where the old Pine Springs schoolhouse used to sit. "We'd always think he was kidding, but then he'd look at us real serious like and tell us, 'I know he's in there, because I put him in there,"' she said.

Sipes, who lives with family members in Antlers, could not be reached for comment. But Mrs. Amend, who owns the property with her husband, Erdice, said he urged her several months ago to get someone to clean out the well and bring the Jack Woods mystery to an end.

"He told me he wanted it over with, but he insisted he wasn't the one who actually killed him," she said.

Mrs. Amend said Sipes told her about a fight that took place in December 1928. It began when Sipes and another man found out that Woods had been drinking their illegal whiskey.

Mrs. Amend said Sipes told her the brawl went on for several hours before Woods was knocked unconscious and tossed into the dry well on the school property.

After realizing what they'd done, Sipes told Mrs. Amend he and the other man spent an entire night carrying large rocks to the well and dropping them in to cover up Woods' body. Through the years, rocks continued to be dropped into the well in an effort to close it up.

"We just know he's in there. It's just a matter of getting down far enough to reach his body," said Mrs. Amend, a lifelong Atoka County resident who pushed to get the official investigation into Woods' death started.

"It's just so hard to believe that he's been down there all these years, and that we've been driving over him every time we go down the driveway," she said. "The whole story is amazing, and we'd just like to help old Bill (Sipes) close the door on the whole mess."

The well is less than 20 yards from the Amends' house, located about 11 miles from Antlers and 22 miles from Atoka. In recent months, the Amends removed thousands of pounds of rocks that were dropped into the well through the years.

During the excavation process, they found several small bones and turned them over to the OSBI for testing. The results of those tests are not back, but Mrs. Amend said she has no doubt the bones belong to Woods.

"I can't say he's not in there," Atoka County Sheriff Gary McCool said. "We do have records that a man named Jack Woods disappeared around that time, and it's possible that what Mr. Sipes said really did happen."