Jacque was last seen in Jackson, Missouri on June 1, 2011. She spoke to her family on the phone between 4:00 and 4:30 p.m. and said she was going to meet her estranged husband of seventeen years, James Clay Waller II, who goes by his middle name, at his residence on Woodland Drive and north Neal Street. She was going to pick up one of her children, then return to her own home in Saint Genevieve, Missouri. Jacque's son was not, in fact, at the residence, however, but at a baby-sitter's. Clay would later claim that Jacque came to his house not to pick up their son but to discuss bankruptcy filings.

Jacque and Clay, a former police officer, were in the process of a divorce and she attended a hearing for it on the day of her disappearance. They had been separated for several months and Jacque was seeing another man. Her family claims Clay was physically abusive and had threatened her, which he denies. A photo of him is posted below this case summary. He stated they got into an argument after she arrived at his house, and she left on foot, leaving her car behind. He said he left also and when he returned two hours later, Jacque's vehicle was gone. She has never been heard from again.

On June 2, Jacque's blue 2006 Honda Pilot with the Missouri license plate number HA5D5J was found abandoned off Interstate 55 at the Fruitland, Missouri exit, near the 105 mile marker. Her purse, keys and cellular phone were missing, and one of the tires had been slashed. A photo of the vehicle is posted below this case summary. Some of Jacque's business cards were found near a mailbox along Highway 177, about ten miles away; they were in good condition and still readable. Clay suggested his wife had been kidnapped, but authorities stated they thought someone had only tried to make her disappearance look like an abduction.

Jacque's purse and some of its contents were located along southbound Interstate 55 in late November, nearly six months after her disappearance. The purse was tattered and had apparently been run over by a lawn mower.

Police quickly focused on Clay as a person of interest in Jacque's disappearance. They appealed to the public, asking for any witnesses who had seen Clay or his truck, a red 2009 GMC Sierra pickup truck with Missouri license plates numbered HA5D5J, after 4:00 p.m. on June 1. A photo of the truck is posted below this case summary. It may have been pulling a boat. Both the truck and the boat were seized and processed for evidence. Clay consented to one interview with investigators, then stopped cooperating with them. Custody of the couple's five-year-old triplets was given to Jacque's sister, and their father wasn't permitted to see them. Her sister wants to adopt them.

In July, Clay was arrested on unrelated charges of felony stealing by deceit and misdemeanor harassment. He allegedly accepted $55,000 in 2009 for construction work he never did, and threatened to kill a former friend. If convicted of those charges, he faces up to fifteen years in prison. At Clay's bond hearing, the prosecutor called him a flight risk and named him a suspect in Jacque's disappearance. He was released on bond, but in September he was arrested again for writing a post on an online message board where he threatened to kill Jacque's sister. For this charge was held without bond. The following month, Clay pleaded guilty to that charge. He was sentenced to five years in prison for the threat in January 2012.

In court about the internet threat charge, for the first time, authorities disclosed some of the evidence they had against Clay in Jacque's disappearance. They found Jacque's blood on the carpet and walls in Clay's home. The bloodstained carpet and pad had been cut away and hidden in a crawl space. He claimed Jacque had injured herself accidentally and admitting hiding the carpet so his landlord wouldn't find out. Investigators also stated Clay had told his father he had killed Jacque by snapping her neck and then buried her in a pre-dug grave. (Clay's father died in December 2011, however; evidence about the alleged confession will therefore be excluded from any future court proceedings.) Before her disappearance, Jacque kept a diary on her computer at work, documenting Clay's abuse; she wrote that he theatened to kill her and their children if she divorced him.

In April 2012, Clay was charged Jacque's murder, as well as two counts of evidence tampering. He maintains his innocence in Jacque's case and says the police have developed "tunnel vision" and are refusing to consider any other theories to explain her disappearance.

Jacque graduated from Farmington Senior High School and got a degree in business from Southeast Missouri State University. She worked as a manager for the Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance company. Her family describes her as a devoted mother who wouldn't have abandoned her children. Foul play is suspected in her case due to the circumstances involved.

Left: Jacque's car;
Center: Clay Waller;
Right: Clay's truck