A sit down with Gretchen Fleming’s friend

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (WTAP) - The search for Gretchen Fleming continues.

And those who have been on the constant lookout for any new information are the police, the family and Gretchen’s friends. One of her friends, Jake Grim — who formed the candlelight vigil at city park — is consistent in wanting Gretchen to remain the focus.

“And, you know, it’s always been about Gretchen,” says Grim. “Anytime somebody’s been trying to shift the focus, my whole intent’s been to shift it back in there. There’s just so much that we still don’t know. The police released little tidbits here and there. But I mean to be a month in and still kind of be at the same point we were at when this originally started is just very frustrating.”

Grim says that frustration is causing a lot of speculation online with people creating their own assumptions or sharing misinformation about Gretchen’s disappearance.

“These people that don’t know her – they’re grasping at information that they find or through, you know, the game of ‘Telephone.’ You know, you hear one thing and pass it along and then it gets distorted,” says Grim.

Grim even found himself in the crosshairs of someone assuming he was with Gretchen the night she went missing at the bar, Front Row.

However, he says not only was he at home, but he didn’t even know Gretchen was back in the area.

“I just, in all this craziness when she first went missing, I had just closed on my house. Been fixing it up and was in the middle of a little mini re-model to make it my own. So, I’ve literally lived at my house. We were tearing up floors and putting floors and walls in,” says Grim. “And to be honest, I don’t go out regularly. And, you know again, I didn’t know that she was here. So, had I known, who’s to say. But I don’t know if we still would’ve talked. I would know that she was in town to be able to reach out with her. And she’d have to reach out to me first she was in town.”

Grim says this case has changed his perspective on things like being a fan of true crime shows and podcasts. He changed how he watches and listens to this form of entertainment as someone whose friend is missing.

“I would even listen to these stories, and you never really think twice about it and then it becomes your life and then you look at things differently,” says Grim. “Honestly, I’ve had to take a break from the True Crime. I mean I love to read stuff about it, I love to watch it. But when it’s your own world and you think about the families, the victims, the friends. It kind of just puts it in a whole other perspective for you honestly.”

If you have any new information on Gretchen Fleming, contact Detective Zimmerman by dialing 304-424-1072 or dial 304-424-8444 for after hours.

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