A small town in Virginia is on edge after a high school football coach mysteriously disappeared in the middle of an undefeated season.
Virginia State police confirmed Saturday that an active search involving multiple state agencies is underway to locate Travis L Turner, 46, of Appalachia, who serves as the head coach of Union High School.
The state police had been en route to his home on Thursday as part of an ongoing investigation – only to learn he was not there, prompting concerns about his safety and well-being as his team prepared for a playoff game.
Police noted that they were not going to Turner’s house to arrest him, but wanted to make contact with him as part of their investigation, Football Scoop reports.
The agents from the Bureau of Criminal Investigation Wytheville field office were in the early stages of an investigation into a man from Wise County, according to WJHL.
Turner was last seen entering the woods near his home, prompting officers to focus on the area surrounding his home.
‘We have had the drones up in the air looking, searching,’ Officer Jason Day of the Virginia State Police told WJHL, adding that have also deployed K-9s and tried to deploy helicopters, which were unable to fly on Saturday due to the weather.
Turner’s sudden disappearance came after he led Union to an undefeated season and the team ranked among the top in the state within their division.
A massive search effort is underway to locate Travis L. Turner, who serves as the head coach of the football team at Union High School in Virginia
Turner’s sudden disappearance came after he led Union to an undefeated season and the team ranked among the top in the state within their division
Assistant Coach Jay Edwards has now taken over the coaching duties as the season comes to an end.
Despite Turner’s mysterious disappearance, the Union football team was able to pull together to win Saturday’s game against Graham High School 12 – 0.
The victory pushed their record to 11 – 0 for the season.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.