By NC WANTED Staff

Posted: Mar. 6, 2009
Updated: Mar. 6, 2009

NASH and BRUNSWICK COUNTIES — The last time Jessie Dunn saw her son was nearly two years ago when he boarded a Greyhound bus after a Mother's Day visit and headed home to Rocky Mount.

Since that time, she has worked tirelessly, and with little support from authorities, to keep his story alive in the hope that someone will provide information that will bring her closure. She said she doesn't think her son will be found alive, but she is desperate for answers, even if they are painful.

Richard Bird, who would be 42 now, was a homeless drug addict. Corporal Stoney Battle of the Rocky Mount police department said he believes BIrd's disappearance was voluntary and that authorities are not investigating the possibility of foul play.

But Dunn is convinced that something has happened to her son, who she said would never go so long without contacting her, despite his lifestyle.

Bird began using drugs as a teenager. Since that time, his relationship with his mother was rocky.

"But we were always there for each other," Dunn said. "It's hard for people to understand what I'm trying to say, but if I ever needed Rich or he ever needed me, we were there for each other."

A few years ago, Bird became addicted to crack cocaine. That's when things really took a turn for the worse, his mother said. She is convinced that her son was caught up in a drug deal gone bad after he went missing, and that someone out there knows what happened to him.

"He wasn't a bad person, he was just a drug addict," she said.

Bird was trying to turn his life around, Dunn said, but he had multiple sclerosis that would leave him confined to a wheelchair for weeks at a time and no income, so they were hard-pressed to find a rehab center that would accept him.

He was last seen May 28, 2007 boarding a Greyhound bus in Brunswick County. He was heading to Rocky Mount. He called his mother the next day to let her know he had arrived. That was the last time she heard from him.

Bird is a white man, with dark hair and hazel eyes. He is 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighs about 140 pounds. He is known to frequent drug areas. When he was last seen, he was wearing a gray tank top and blue jeans, a back pack, an eagle necklace, a CD player with headset and glasses. He has tattoos on both arms, multiple scars and false teeth.

If you have any information about the disappearance of Richard Bird, call NC WANTED toll free at 1.866.43.WANTED (1.866.439.2683) or click on "Report a Tip" Your identity can be kept confidential.