Madison Heights man’s family seeks answers in mysterious death

Jason Aigeldinger’s death last year has mystified his family, and they have erected a billboard alongside U.S. 29 in Madison Heights near Virginia 130 to ask witnesses to help them find an answer.

“The bottom line is, we had a healthy 32-year-old who wound up in a creek, and we don’t know what happened to him,” said his father, Charlie Aigeldinger.

An autopsy revealed no cause of death, his family said.

Jason was an assistant store manager at the Madison Heights Food Lion, having worked his way up after starting as a stock boy at the Boonsboro store several years ago.

His parents last saw him Oct. 28 and reported him missing Nov. 1. His body was found Dec. 14 beside Lynch’s Ferry Road, about 12 miles from where he lived with his parents near Elon. Lynch’s Ferry Road runs roughly parallel to South Amherst Highway (Old U.S. 29) through a wooded area near the James River.

Investigators have told the family they have no new information, though they interviewed at least one person who last saw him alive and have examined his voluminous cell phone records.

The medical examiner shared detailed information about the examination of his body but could not explain his death, his parents said.

“They were very puzzled,” Charlie Aigeldinger said. “Everybody watches ‘CSI,’ and it’s nothing like that.”

The medical examiner informed the family that the death certificate will list the cause of death listed as undetermined.

The family hopes the billboard will lead to tips from anyone who might know what happened to him. The billboard will be up for about a month. The cost of the billboard was donated by a family friend who otherwise would have used the space and time to advertise for his business. The family hopes to collect enough money to continue the billboard for two to three months.

Jason Aigeldinger, a 1994 graduate of Amherst County High School, was a father of two.

He formerly worked at RR Donnelly in Lynchburg, where his father still works, and had worked for Food Lion for about eight years.

He was a football fan, collected everything from action figures to baseball and football cards and sent and received thousands of text messages monthly on his cell phone.

Estranged from the mother of their two children, he met a woman online who lived in Buckingham County and in Old Town Madison Heights. An investigator interviewed the woman, who last saw him the morning before he disappeared.

“He got fascinated with her, he couldn’t shake free of her,” said his mother, Rosemary Aigeldinger. “It just tormented him.”

On the morning of Oct. 27, he left to meet the woman at Monacan Park and was gone for four hours and returned in a good mood, his mother said. “She was one of the last people to talk to him,” his mother said.

About 1 p.m., he went to one of his two brothers’ homes in Madison Heights.

Jason later called his father, who picked him up as he walked beside U.S. 29, sluggish and depressed after drinking beer. Jason rode with his parents on a trip to Lowe’s, but then he walked away, telling his parents to go home because he needed to be alone.

His father last saw him sleeping on their couch about 2 a.m. Oct. 28.

He was gone when his father got up at 5:15 a.m. to go to work. He found an empty beer can. His son’s coat remained at home, though he typically wore zip-up, hooded sweatshirts and hated to be cold. He had taken his wallet and cell phone.

They reported him missing the next Saturday, Nov. 1.

“He always answered texts. Nothing. Something was wrong,” his father said. “I just don’t think he thought he was going,” his mother said. “I just have a feeling he was believing someone or something, and they messed with his head and they hurt him,” she said. Someone most likely gave him a ride, his father believes.

Jason’s texts –– he typically sent and received 4,000 per month, sometimes 4,500, his father said –– abruptly stopped, and they heard nothing from him, until someone happened upon his body.

Hundreds attended the visitation at Whitten Funeral Home’s Monelison chapel.

They hope the billboard generates tips.

“I hate those words, ‘I don’t know,’” his mother said. “I’ve been saying those since Oct. 28.

“I think about when he was found. I still don’t know.”

His ashes remain at the family’s home.

Well-wishes trickled off after the visitation, to the point that his family felt isolated, though one of Jason’s sisters reached out on Facebook and was deluged with kind responses by his friends and acquaintances.

They still like to hear from his friends, his parents said.