The Missing Jesse Lee Farber

The Missing
Jesse Lee Farber
Tamaqua, Pennsylvania

UPDATE!!!! Jesse’s remains have been found. Praying for answers for his family!

https://www.tnonline.com/20251024/remains-of-missing-tamaqua-man-found-10-years-later/?fbclid=IwZnRzaANpn_BleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHg_XCFGZowArAIIJhytbTxnUhQ8zVHJMGr7orwWE-Vt3IUEoMNbEI8dF23GF_aem__VCrzReMwKYh9dE0CwrXVA

Jesse Lee Farber was 29 years old when he was last seen on August 11, 2015 in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, at around 7:20 p.m. On that day Jesse had plans to meet a drug dealer at an unnamed fast food restaurant at 12 p.m. But one of them had arrived late so the deal never happened. The rest of Jesse’s day from then until his final sighting at 7:20 p.m. are unknown. A witness reported seeing Jesse walking south on the “S” curves on Hunter Street towards a wooded trail leading to the coal fields near Sharp Mountain. He was wearing a black hoodie, a black T-shirt, light brown bib overalls and either work boots or sneakers carrying a camouflage print backpack. Jesse is a white male with dark brown hair and hazel/brown eyes, a bog bite scar on each cheek, a small scar on his forehead and numerous tattoos. He is 5’5” to 5’7” and 135 lbs.
Jesse’s girlfriend Rachel got a phone call at about 9 p.m from her boyfriend and he was distraught, panicking, saying 10 to 12 coyotes had chased him up a tree on Sharp Mountain behind the Tamaqua Area High School, that his phone battery was low, and to “bring guns,” but during this call, Jesse’s phone died. Rachel, along with others immediately started to look for him, with no success. He was then reported missing to authorities.
The woods were searched several times in the first months after his disappearance and a high-tech robot was even lowered 400 feet into a mine shaft to try and locate Jesse with not so much as a clue being revealed. That is until December of 2016 when a hunter located Jesse’s sweatpants in a tree miles away from where he was last said to have been, and his backpack was found higher up in the same tree. The sweatpants were picked off the tree and in doing so, it was realized that one pant leg was tied in a knot and inside the leg was a rock. The backpack contained a pair of boots and a cellphone charger.
The tree was described to be small and skinny, and there were many other trees nearby that would’ve made better hiding places. The tree was next to a coal ridge with mine-shafts and hidden tunnels. It was not a good place to be running around in the dark. The theory of Jesse falling into a mine shaft was plausible; that was when the high-tech robot came into play.
There were no real answers to what exactly Jesse was running from. It was probably not coyotes because it is not normal behavior for coyotes to hunt in packs or chase people up trees. The popular theory is that Jesse was having a drug induced hallucination. There was a second theory that perhaps Jesse was not talking about actual coyotes, but instead he could have been chased by a drug gang called the Coyotes. The police however, said they are unaware of any gangs called the Coyotes in the area.
Jesse’s children are growing up without a father. The circumstances of his disappearance remain unclear and the case is still unsolved.

If you have any information, please contact the Tamaqua Police Department at 570-668-5000.

Sources:

Jesse’s FB page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087575703036