A search remained ongoing in southwestern Virginia after the coach of an undefeated high school football team was last seen entering the woods when investigators were en route to his home.
(Video Credit: WJHL)
Prior to the weekend, players from Big Stone Gap, Virginia’s Union High School football team were gearing up for a playoff contest. However, well before the game, the Wise County school district had confirmed a staff member was placed on administrative leave as a search was underway to locate 46-year-old head coach Travis L. Turner of Appalachia.
Speaking with WJHL, the Virginia State Police had confirmed that Turner had gone missing on Thursday and was last seen entering the woods near his home around the same time that officers had been dispatched to the residence as part of an investigation.
Over the weekend, special agents from the Bureau of Criminal Investigations Wytheville Field Office confirmed that they were behind the investigation of the coach who’d been with the school since 2011.
“We have had the drones up in the air looking, searching. We tried to get the state police aviation, but they were unable to fly yesterday because of the weather,” explained VSP Officer Jason Day of the effort to locate Turner, which had included a search of the grounds at the Appalachia High School. “We’ve had K-9 units, bloodhounds from local departments, sheriff’s office here in Wise, state police dogs into the woods, searching, you know, the local area of last known place where Mr. Turner may have been or had [been] seen.”
Absent from reporting about the investigation were any details about why officers had been en route to speak with Turner, other than to contend that they had not been dispatched to arrest him. Similarly, the Daily Mail had reported that the missing coach’s own wife, Leslie Caudill Turner, was equally unaware of what was going on.
She was said to have taken to social media to claim that her husband “is missing and that’s all we know,” adding, “We love him and need him here with us,” as she thanked those who’d been in touch to offer support.
Meanwhile, as the regional semifinal game took place with the assistant coach filling in for Turner, Wise County Public Schools Superintendent Mike Goforth had told WJHL, “Today is really about the students here, and at Union High School. You know, I can’t discuss any personnel matters, and I really think that folks need to review the statement that we released yesterday.”
The original statement from the school district had read, “At this time, a staff member has been placed on administrative leave with pay while an external agency reviews an allegation that was reported to us. This is standard procedure and not a determination of wrongdoing. The division cannot comment further.”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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