Leads remain scarce in search for missing local family man

DAN ASTIN

Enterprise Staff Writer

Tuesday, Sep. 10 marks one week since Livingston resident Benjamin Joseph Hampson, 46, vanished, leaving family members and authorities with few clues as to his whereabouts.

“I thought we would find him by now. He was going through a difficult time,” said Benjamin’s wife, Brittney Hampson, a librarian at East Side Elementary School. Brittney explained her husband, an electrician with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, went missing last week after he left work around 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Sep. 3.

“He was home at 3:05 p.m.,” said Brittney, who added cameras at their Livingston home recorded her husband entering and exiting the premises.

Benjamin Hampson wore a yellow Montana State University Bobcats T-shirt and black ball-cap at the time of his departure, per video footage. Brittney said she was still at work when her husband came home.

“The only other thing we know is he stopped at a gas station in the Bozeman area at around 3:50 p.m.,” said Brittney Hampson, citing a banking withdraw statement of an undisclosed sum.

Hampson presumed her husband withdrew the cash to fuel his white Ford F-150 pickup with Montana Centennial plates reading CVS 489.

“Our biggest thing right now is to keep our eyes open. If hunters see anything like the truck, report it,” said Hampson’s daughter, Denie Hampson, 23, a radiographer at Bozeman Health Deaconess Regional Medical Center.

Denie Hampson said family friends with planes searched for her father via the air in Park and Gallatin counties. Her dad enjoys hunting, fishing and camping, she said.

The Hampson’s have five children: Thad, 24, Denie, 23, Avery, 23, Olivia, 13, and Lucas, 10. The family is offering is a $2,000 reward for anyone who finds Benjamin Hampson or his vehicle and reports it to law enforcement.

“We are exhausting all leads and working with federal officials and agencies around the state,” said Captain Jason Hopkins, in charge of patrol and detectives at the Park County Sheriff ’s Office. “We sent a statewide Be On the Lookout alert for the vehicle. Surrounding states and cities are looking for him and are aware he is missing.”

Hopkins was unable to elaborate further on an active investigation and declined to specify what federal officials and state agencies are on the case or what investigative methods are being implemented.

“We have no information on where he may have gone,” said Hopkins. “As small of a detail as it may seem, that may be the piece of information we need right now.”

Hopkins stressed the importance of public vigilance and participation in the search.

Those with any information on Benjamin Hampson’s whereabouts are advised to call the Park County Sheriff ’s Office at 406-222-4172.

“Our biggest thing right now is to keep our eyes open.

If hunters see anything like the truck, report it”

Denie Hampson