Weather 
A veteran detective warned that the search for missing Virginia high school football coach Travis Turner might have a bleak outcome.
“It almost becomes like looking for a needle in the haystack, particularly in that region of the Appalachian Mountains,” retired law enforcement veteran and criminology professor Dr. Ken Lang told the Daily Mail on Saturday, December 6.
Turner, 46, went missing on November 20, last seen by family members walking into the woods behind his home while carrying a firearm.
“That’s a pretty remote, densely wooded area,” explained Lang, who is not directly involved in the Turner case. “We’re in the cold time of the year, and so at night, if we’re looking for somebody, we would send helicopters up and use Forward-Looking Infrared [FLIR] to look for body heat.”
Lang added, “But sometimes it’s hard to discern between that and, say, a deer that has bedded down for the night or other animals. If they’re not seeing that with FLIR and if he’s taken his life and his body would have cooled off, you wouldn’t get any reaction.”
Days after he went missing, Turner was charged with five counts of child pornography and five counts of using a computer to solicit a minor.
Lang further explained that the prolonged search for Turner, which now involves the United States Marshals Service, becomes particularly complicated if the football coach is no longer alive.
“You have animals out there that would actually pick at and pick apart the body and take pieces of it away, which then becomes problematic,” he said. “Your search then starts to focus on clothing and remnants and things that you would have expected him to be in at the time. It just becomes harder.”
The search for Turner has utilized K-9 units, drones and a helicopter. The US Marshals issued a $5,000 reward for information about his whereabouts on December 1.
“Now that we’re past the fall, the leaves have dropped on many of the trees, so it gives air support an opportunity to look down on the forest floor through that,” Lang said.” Officers will be combing the woods through known paths, animal trails and things like that and looking for any signs of recent movement. Broken twigs, footprints. If the weather is conducive, and it has been wet, you’re more likely to leave footprints and you can get a sense of direction.”
In a statement given to Us Weekly via their attorney on Wednesday, December 3, the Turner family revealed some troubling details about Turner’s disappearance.
“Travis’ car and keys were left at home,” the statement read. “Travis wore contact lenses by day and glasses in the evenings. Travis’ contact lens supplies and glasses were left at home. Travis’ wallet, license, cash and all its contents were left in the home. Travis is prescribed certain daily medications, which he needs; those were left in the home. It is not like Travis to disappear or stay away from home.”
Turner and his wife, Leslie Caudill Turner, share three children: sons Bailey, 25, and Grayden, 21, and daughter Brynlee, 11.
The statement added, “If Travis has the ability and is able to respond to his family’s wishes: Your wife and children are in distress. Leslie pleads for you to come home and face the allegations by defending yourself in a court of law. Don’t leave your family to fight this battle without you. They love and miss you. They want you to know they are your support.”
