He Vanished After His Wife Got An Alert That He Was In A Car Accident, But The Crash Seemingly Never Happened
David McAfee, a 31-year-old husband and father of three from New Market, Tennessee, vanished without a trace on October 28, 2022.
His wife, Courtney Campbell, received an iPhone alert that he’d been in a car accident, but the crash seemingly never happened, and David’s remained missing ever since.
“I just love and miss him so much. He was a loving father of three young boys, and these boys need their daddy,” Courtney explained just over one month after he disappeared.
That Friday started off normally for the couple, who’d been together for 10 years. Courtney was at work; meanwhile, David was spotted by a neighbor as he worked on a friend’s truck.
In the afternoon, he got a ride to a BP gas station located off Asheville Highway at about 2:30 p.m. David was captured purchasing a pack of cigarettes by the station’s surveillance footage.
Then, Courtney wound up getting off of work early that day, but when she arrived home, her husband wasn’t there. She realized their garage door had been left unlocked, and David’s gaming console was still on. Additionally, he didn’t take his wallet or his two jackets with him.
Courtney called David at approximately 5:30 p.m. to ask about his whereabouts, and he claimed he was still working on his friend’s truck. Two hours later, she received three shocking alerts from David’s phone number at 7:30 p.m.
“Crash Detected SOS. David McAfee called emergency services from this approximate location after iPhone detected a crash. You are receiving this message because David has you listed as an emergency contact,” the exact notification read.
Apple has crash-detection software that, if activated, will inform emergency contacts of accidents. Yet, when Courtney spoke to Jefferson County dispatchers, she learned no car crashes had been reported in the area. She also reportedly visited the alleged crash’s location and found nothing.
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David didn’t return home that evening, either, pushing Courtney to report her husband missing the following day. It took investigators about one week to locate his iPhone behind Providence Church in Jefferson City. There was a brick wall, and the device seemed to have been thrown, which might’ve prompted the crash detection software to go off.
Before David vanished, his sister, Kadana Phillips, was pregnant with a baby boy, and he was reportedly very excited to meet her son. In the wake of his disappearance, Kadana joined search parties as they looked for any sign of him, but to this day, exactly what happened to David remains a mystery.
His mother, Melissa Gumm, claimed David had never failed to stay in touch with her, his siblings, or Courtney, saying, “People don’t just walk off the face of the Earth.”
“We know there’s someone out there who knows what happened to David. Somebody has to know. We just want them to come forward. Even if you’re afraid of getting in trouble, we need closure. We need answers. We just need to have David wherever he is,” Melissa stated.
According to Kadana, her brother “did not have a mean bone in his body,” and she doesn’t know anyone who would want to harm him. She continues holding onto hope that answers will be uncovered and urges the loved ones of other missing people to do the same.
“Do not give up on them. Because I know, for whatever reason, if David is alive, then he will know we never had given up on him. That we never stopped looking for him, and we never stopped fighting for him. He’d do that for us,” Kadana said.
The investigation into David’s case is still active. He was five foot eleven to six foot two, weighed between 210 and 230 pounds, and had brown hair and blue eyes. He would be 33 years old today.
Anyone with information regarding David’s disappearance is urged to contact the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office at (865) 471-6000.
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