Jimmy “Jamie” Riddle (9 of Diamonds, North Carolina)

[dramatic music] On the evening of September 26, 1991, Max Riddle was sitting at home in Fayetteville when the phone rang.

It was someone that he knew saying that he should watch the news that night because his younger sibling might be on TV.

Now, the tone of the call must not have been ominous, because Max sat back on the couch and held his baby, thinking that his brother, who he knew as Jimmy, was gonna be highlighted in some way.

Now, through our reporting, we learned that Riddle also went by Jamie on occasion, though their family didn't know that.

So throughout this episode, they will refer to their brother as Jimmy.

And because of that, you'll hear us refer to them as Riddle.

According to reports, a couple of friends say that Riddle used Jimmy and Jamie interchangeably, and often wore feminine clothing.

But no one knew exactly how they identified.

To their family, it didn't matter.

I, I don't think it was ever talked about, because we wasn't raised to be like that to people and stuff.

We were raised to, to be nice and be kind to everybody, and it doesn't matter what they are or what they do.

Riddle was loved within the family for being charming and charismatic.

Someone who, and I know this is gonna sound cheesy, but it's true, someone who could light up a room.

So when Max sat down on the couch with his new baby in his arms, he was excited to see what was gonna come on TV, because in his mind, it could only be something good.

Um, I didn't know if he was on a TV show or what, um, but when the news came on, it said they found a body.

Um, and when they did, uh, they were trying to find out who it was, i- identify the body.

The body they spoke about had been found earlier that day, floating face down in College Lake.

They didn't show pictures, didn't even give many identifiers, but instantly Max's world shifted.

That call he'd gotten earlier that day took on a different tone, and when the news anchor made a call to the public asking anyone who might be able to identify the victim to come forward, Max knew that he was going to have to be that person.

Now, Max never found out how that friend knew what happened first, and now that he's passed away, we can't ask that friend.

But at the time, Max, who is a military veteran, instinctively snapped into action.

He gently handed his baby to his wife, grabbed his keys, and drove straight to Cape Fear Valley Medical Center.

It was the only place that he knew to go.

I went to the desk and I asked, I said, "Hey, I was told that, uh, my brother was found dead and that he was here.

Um, that they, somebody ne- would, needed to identify him." So they ended up, uh, getting somebody and they took me back there and, uh, they pulled the, uh, sheet up over his head, and that's when I knew it was him.