A retired Army National Guard sergeant major has vanished in Arkansas, and his wife and children aren’t helping find him.

In fact, Shannon Collins’s immediately family never even reported him missing — that was his brother and sister, who contacted the Pope County Sheriff’s Office when they hadn’t spoken with him in months.

According to KTHV, Collins’ wife and children visited his sister without him at some point in 2021.

“They came down to visit me, just in my dining room, and I had a good visit,” Holly Beckwith told the station. “At the same time, I still was trying to figure out why my brother wasn’t around.”

The wife and children said he was traveling, and they were in contact with him. Beckwith and her brother saw no reason to doubt the story for a time, but after they didn’t hear from him for several months, the brother, who lives out of state, contacted the Pope County Sheriff’s Office, which launched an investigation in November 2021.

Pope County Sheriff’s Lt. Jacob Yarbrough has been the lead investigator since that time. He said they talked with Collins’ wife and children, but the information they got wasn’t helpful.

“We went back for follow-ups, and they weren’t talking to us,” Yarbrough said. “They said they wanted counsel, and even to this day, we welcome them to come down and talk to us.”

An update on the case this week provided by the sheriff’s office said that Collins’ wife, son, and daughter spoke with investigators once.

“During the initial, and only, interview the wife participated in, she gave false and misleading statements to investigators,” the statement said. “Investigators attempted to obtain follow-up information from Shannon’s wife and children but were advised that they had obtained council and wished to speak to investigators no further. They have provided no information since to help further the investigation.”

The sheriff’s office said it had no leads that indicated Collins might be living elsewhere and that detectives “are looking at this case as a Missing Person with foul play involved.”

Beckwith told KTHV she fears the worst.

“At this point, I feel like he is not alive,” Beckwith said. “I don’t know how that happened or what happened.”

“Our goal is to find Shannon,” Yarbrough said. “There are people that can help with that, and we’re willing to talk with them.”