Mysteries unsolved: What happened to Raymont Willis and Koby Roush?

PIKE COUNTY, OH (WXIX) - The mysterious disappearances of two men from the Pike County area remain unsolved, leaving both of their families in the dark and desperate for information.

However, a potential connection could be the key to solving the cases of Raymont Willis and Koby Roush.

According to his daughter Tenia Willis, Raymont Willis, 42, lived in the Waverly area when he vanished.

The father of six was last seen by loved ones on July 4, 2020. Tenia said that was a few months after her father was released from jail on drug charges, and a few days after Pike County investigators raided his home related to a drug trafficking investigation.

Relatives tried to find him for several days, but ultimately reported him missing on July 11, 2020. His phone is missing as well.

“We did speak to one person who said they had seen him last, and apparently, he threw his phone out the window, hopped out the car and ran into the woods,” Tenia said. “That was the only story we had had.”

For Tenia, the loss of her dad has been devastating. They had built a strong relationship, but it came a little later in life.

“He was loving. He was kind. He was the type to give his shirt off of his back to someone... He used to do gymnastics when he was a kid which is how he got the nickname ‘Frog.’ A lot of people don’t know that. He could still do 10 backflips in a row to this day,” Tenia said. “I wish I would have, I would have told him how much he meant to me and how much of the things he said to me really stuck with me.”

As for Koby Roush, his sister, Danielle Dyer, says they last heard from him on July 6, 2020. Roush was 24 at the time, living in Waverly, and working on bettering himself.

Dyer said her brother had battled addiction and disappeared a week after being released from rehab.

“He had got a job. He was doing good. He was doing boxing,” Dyer said. “He was in really good shape, the best shape of his life.”

In what could have been his last moments, Dyer said Roush called their dad, who did not live nearby, and said he was stuck and working on getting a ride. After that, no one could reach him.

“That night he was leaving a party and supposed to be moving in with somebody, because he got in a fight with the guy he was living with,” Dyer said. “I knew in my heart that something wasn’t right.”

A few days later, investigators reportedly found Roush’s car, abandoned, in Gallia County, Ohio. Many of his possessions were there, but not his cell phone.

“The windows was down in the car, and all of his belongings was in the car,” Dyer said. “His wallet was in there, like everything he owned.”

Organizations that specialize in searches have looked for both Raymont and Roush. Dyer said one of the searches in a wooded area did lead them to what appeared to be her brother’s clothes.

“Right in a pile. There was the shorts, and there was a shirt right beside it,” Dyer said.

Tips have come in, in both of their cases.

“There was about a dozen people who supposedly drug him to a body shop and beat him, chopped his arms off,” Tenia said about Raymont. “And then we were told that the remainders of him was thrown into a river.”

Each one, seemingly more chilling than the last.

“Horrible. In the beginning, they had said he had got fed to pigs. they said he was in a woodchopper, all kinds of horrible things,” Dyer said, referencing Roush. “They even got a call saying some guys said that he had my brother, and he was keeping him hostage in a shed tied up. And he wanted money, and I was gonna give them my savings account.”

In time, Dyer and Tenia learned their loved ones’ cases may be connected.

Investigative reports from July 2020 show a man named Luke Farmer was wanted for questioning in the “disappearance and possible murder” of two people in Pike County - Koby Roush and “Willis.”

Records show someone had come forward and told detectives that Farmer admitted to being involved in their cases.

“He supposedly was there when my brother was murdered. He admitted to shooting Koby, but he couldn’t go through with it... that’s a rumor we’ve heard,” Dyer said. “In the police report, Luke Farmer admitted to killing Koby Roush.”

According to reports, a day after investigators learned of Farmer’s alleged confession, Farmer was dead. The Ross County Coroner ruled it an accidental overdose.

Hoping to learn more, both families went digging for information. Tenia said she discovered that her father, Raymont, and Farmer had been cellmates in jail. Dyer does not know how, or if, her brother, Roush, knew Farmer.

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation confirmed they are leading the investigation into Roush’s case and are helping with Willis’ case.

“I wish they weren’t going through it, even though I have to, I don’t put this on anyone,” Tenia said. " It does make it a little more comforting knowing that we’re not the only people concerned and looking, you know. It gives us a little bit of hope, every time they find something out about Koby, it gives us a little hope on this side.”

Now Raymont and Roush’s families, once strangers to each other, are intertwined in ways they never imagined.

“I just feel what they’re going through, and I can relate with her [Tenia]. I just want to hug her,” Dyer said. “I know how much pain she’s gone through. She’s heard all the horrible stories, and just really relatable. I just hope we can both get answers and find out what happened.”

Anyone with information on either disappearance is urged to call Ohio BCI investigators at 855-BCI-OHIO (855-224-6446).

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