Jailhouse Interview, Man Mourns His Wife

by John Madewell  The husband of a missing woman speaks out in a jailhouse interview.   Dana Wilkes has been missing since November 9 and her family believes a body discovered almost two weeks ago is her.    Her husband, Tom Wilkes, has no doubt. Wilkes was in jail when his wife turned up missing and when the body was discovered back on November 25. He adamantly denies any involvement but has no doubt his wife is dead and she died a horrible death.From a guarded visitation room inside the Hamilton County Jail, Tom Wilkes sat down and talked about his wife, the disappearance and what he believes to be a murder. The interview lasted more than 45 minutes."She came to visit me, that's the last time I seen my baby," Wilkes said as he recalled the moments of November 8, one day before Dana Wilkes disappeared.She would come to see him twice a week as he serves his probation violation time for felonious traffic offenses. On November 9, the day she went missing, he talked with her by phone. That night, something strange happened in his jail cell. "What was ironic is the same night she went missing, I woke up, I was in the fetal position. My wedding ring was off my finger, laying in my bed, that was weird."    But Wilkes has no doubt his wife of four years is dead. They've known each other for five years. Dana Wilkes worked at Dialysis Clinic, Inc. on East 3rd Street. Tom Wilkes met her there as a patient and "romanced her."Those were much happier times. After her disappearance last month, police found her Jeep Cherokee, with blood splatter inside, at the Wilcox Tunnel.On November 25th, a passerby found a woman's body at Youngstown Road near South Chickamauga Creek. Police and the Hamilton County Medical Examiner's Office have yet to publicly identify the body as Wilkes but her family believes it is.And Tom has no doubt. He spent a lot of time in jail praying during the days and nights after her disappearance. Wilkes broke down as he recalled those moments. "I told him you gave me an angel and you took her away," he said as he dropped his head into his hand-cuffed hands.The Friday before last, police asked Tom to look at pictures they had taken. They showed a Mickey Mouse and butterfly tattoo on Dana's legs. "When I saw the tattoos, I knew they were hers." And Tom believes one of his acquaintances may have had something to do with the disappearance. He said his wife would never let a stranger into their duplex and police told him they found no signs of struggle. "He made the last phone calls to her phone. And I think he probably tricked her or some kind of way got her to come out because she trusted him."A trust that may have cost a life, a loving wife. "A horrible death that she died. She didn't deserve all that and I don't deserve the fact that I can't go out there and bury her properly."He can't get out because he has no bond. He's in jail for repeat traffic violations that have stacked up to a felony level.Meanwhile, the Medical Examiner's Office still has no official release on the identity of the body found on Youngstown Road.