In The News

Driver’s family gets tragic news after nearly weeklong search

For nearly a week, the family of New Mexico trucker Allen Hicks has been frantically looking for him after he went missing on Tuesday, May 12.

On Monday, May 18, Tammy Hicks told Land Line she received a phone call confirming the worst – that her dad had been found in his truck at a truck stop near Baltimore, MD. It was not the news the family wanted to hear.

She said that authorities do not suspect foul play.

While Allen Hicks’ family deals with his loss, they are still searching for details. Tammy said she isn’t sure her dad would have been found without the support from fellow truckers, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, and the state police departments in Maryland and Virginia, who were all on the lookout for Hicks.

Tammy said she found out that PrePass recorded a signal from her dad’s transponder as he passed by a weigh station in Stevens City, VA, on May 12, but that was the last anyone heard from him. After filing a missing person’s report on Wednesday, May 13, she said the first call was to OOIDA and to Doug Morris, who heads OOIDA’s TRACER program, to get the description of her dad and his truck “in the hands of truckers.”

Morris said that vital information made its way into the hands of an OOIDA member, who spotted the truck and alerted staff. Hicks’ information was sent out to members who signed up to receive security alerts for missing truckers, stolen trucks and trailers via text message.

Allen Hicks, 57, drove for Aaron McGruder Trucking, based out of Albuquerque, NM. He was headed to New Jersey with a load of mangoes. He leaves behind four children, eight grandchildren and two grandbabies on the way.

[email protected]