Virginia high school football coach vanishes into thin air midway through undefeated season, cops deploy drones and dogs

Something is afoot at Union High School in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. Their football team is midway through an undefeated season, meaning their coach, 46-year-old Travis Turner, should be riding high right now.

But, in an increasingly ominous mystery, he’s completely vanished, and cops have launched a massive search operation for him, including multiple drones and K-9 units from various law enforcement departments.

Turner was last seen on Thursday, Nov. 20, but was officially listed as a missing person yesterday, Sunday, Nov. 23. As per a report in the New York Post, the Virginia State Police were dispatched to Turner’s residence on Thursday to follow up on a complaint and found only a disquieting mystery.

It’s important to underline that Turner apparently wasn’t the subject of the complaint and hasn’t been identified as a suspect in any kind of illegal activity, but when cops arrived at his property, he wasn’t there, and nobody has any clue as to his whereabouts

Where could he be?

Each hour that passes without Turner’s whereabouts being identified heightens concerns for his safety. Cops have said he was last seen wearing glasses in a gray sweatshirt and sweatpants, with Jason Day of the State Police explaining:

“We tried to get the state police aviation, but they were unable to fly yesterday because of the weather. We’ve had K-9 units, bloodhounds from local departments, sheriff’s office here, and 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 seen.”

It seems there’s more to this story than we’re being told. The nature of the complaint that summoned cops to his house remains unknown, and obviously that may shed some light on whether Turner may have motivation to drop off the radar.

In the meantime, Union High School is continuing the football season without its coach. Wise County Public Schools Superintendent Mike Goforth told News Channel 11 that a temporary replacement coach has been found, but refused to discuss Turner’s disappearance:

“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 to review the statement that we released yesterday. You can refer to the last statement if there’s no further comment at this time.”

Here’s hoping Turner is located soon and we get an explanation as to what’s going on here. There’s more to this than meets the eye, so we can only hope that Turner is found alive and well and whatever’s really going on is made public knowledge.