The search for missing high school football coach Travis Turner remains ongoing nearly two weeks after he disappeared into the woods behind his family’s home.
Turner, 46, the head coach at Union High School in Stone Gap, Virginia, vanished on November 20, days before being charged with five counts of child pornography and five counts of using a computer to solicit a minor.
The football coach “left his residence to walk in the woods with a firearm,” according to a statement from Turner family attorney, Adrian Collins, on Friday, November 28.
Turner was officially classified as an “endangered missing person” on November 22, with a search employing the use of K-9 units, drones and a helicopter focused on the wooded area near the Turner residence.
Despite the extensive search — which has also seen the Turner family launch their own search efforts — Turner remains missing and is considered a “fugitive,” according to police.
Turner resided in Wise County, Virginia, a rural area surrounded by rivers and forests of varying elevations.
Authorities may need to use motion sensors left in an area of interest that send signals back to the search team’s base or drones with heat-sensing abilities that can track an individual’s movement, according to John Miller, CNN’s chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst.
CNN meteorologist Mary Gilbert explained that weather is also a huge factor in the search.
Since Turner disappeared, weather in the area has been warmer than usual with some light rainfall, but not enough to cause any flooding, Gilbert said.
Eddie Blair, the husband of a former high school classmate of Turner’s, told The Athletic that the football coach knows the wooded Appalachia area “better than most people.”
Turner’s wife, Leslie Caudill Turner, “promptly notified local law enforcement” when her husband did not return home after entering the woods on November 20, according to the family’s attorney.
“She was advised that a missing-person report could not be taken until at least 24 hours had passed,” the attorney’s statement said. “The following day, she filed a missing-person report with the Virginia State Police. The family has cooperated fully with law-enforcement in their ongoing efforts to locate Travis.”
The Turner family, along with a group of friends, have executed their own search in an attempt to locate Travis.
According to the attorney, the search has been “limited by weather conditions and with respect for the official operations underway.”
Travis and Leslie share three children: sons Bailey, 25, and Grayden, 21, and daughter, Brynlee, 11.
Attorney Collins addressed the charges against Travis in a separate statement released on behalf of the Turner family on Tuesday, November 25.
“We remain prayerful for his safe return and for everyone affected by the circumstances surrounding his disappearance,” the statement read. “We trust God to bring truth and clarity in His time. Any allegations should be addressed through the proper legal process — not through speculation or rumor.”
The statement continued, “We ask the public and media to show compassion, accuracy, and respect for the family’s privacy.”
