#FindJakeandRay Missing Sherrills Ford, North Carolina Teens Help find Jake Ziegler & Ray Pierce Deputy: We believe missing Catawba Co. teens crashed in SC
Search crews were back out early Thursday morning, looking for two missing teens from Catawba County. Investigators say they are searching fringe areas they didn't get to during Wednesday's search
Fairfield County Chief Deputy Keith Lewis say
Search crews were back out early Thursday morning, looking for two missing teens from Catawba County. Investigators say they are searching fringe areas they didn't get to during Wednesday's search
Fairfield County Chief Deputy Keith Lewis say
s all the information investigators have gathered leave them to believe that 18-year-old Jake Ziegler and 17-year-old Ray Pierce crashed along Interstate 77.
The teens have been missing since early Saturday, when family members believe they were headed to the Myrtle Beach area.
"He would never do this to me. This is so uncharacteristic," said Jake's sister Jackie Ziegler.
Lewis believes the crash, if it happened, would have occurred along the interstate near mile marker 48. He says the search could be difficult because Ziegler and Pierce were driving in a green Pontiac.
The search intensified Wednesday morning, as the Fairfield County Sheriff's Office teamed up with SLED investigators to search along Interstate 77 with helicopters and ground crews.
Search teams used four-wheelers and the Highway Patrol's helicopter.
Sue Ziegler, the mother of 18-year-old Jake Ziegler, says a team of volunteers also gathered at the public safety building on Main Street in Conway, South Carolina on Wednesday morning.
Ziegler said the family is urging people in the Charlotte area to volunteer in the search efforts. She says the family is offering a $5,000 reward to anyone who can lead searchers to the teens.
Family members say they have reason to believe the missing teens may be in Conway but said they weren't releasing what information led them there.
"My son doesn't have much longer, if he's alive. I believe he is," said Zig Ziegler.
According to Catawba County Sheriff Coy Reid, multiple law enforcement agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, are now involved in the search.
A spokesman for the Fairfield County Sheriff's Office says that one of the boy's cell phones last picked up service along Interstate 77 between exits 45 and 48.
According to the cell phone company, the ping radius for the phone is around four miles. Investigators are searching a five-mile area.
A helicopter search Tuesday morning by the S.C. Law Enforcement Division found no sign of vehicle wreckage along the interstate in the county in previous searches earlier this week.
The last known contact with either of the teens was around 2:30 a.m. on Saturday when Jake sent a text that pinged off a cell phone tower near Rock Hill, SC.
Both families are worried.
The last known contact with either of the teens was around 2:30 a.m. on Saturday when Jake sent a text that pinged off a cell phone tower near Rock Hill, SC.
Both families are worried.
"There is no activity on their cell phones, on their debit cards. We don't believe they don't have any cash with them. They have one Shell card for gas and they can use it for food," Jackie Ziegler said.
Jackie says it is unlike her younger brother, Jake to not contact her.
"I understand the statistics and I understand that but this is not my brother. And there's no chance in hell he would go this far without contacting me," Ziegler said.
Ziegler says they are looking for a 2006 Green Pontiac G-6 with NC plates BDD-8844.
Jake's father, Zig Ziegler, told WBTV that he has driven to Myrtle Beach and back looking for the car the teens were last seen in. Ziegler also says he rented two planes to fly the route from Denver to Myrtle Beach to search for the car.
Myrtle Beach Police Captain David Knipes said the city is a magnet for runaway teens and people looking for a hide-out.
But, he added, missing juveniles do not go unnoticed. Knipes said a special group of officers make up a juvenile department, specializing in locating missing persons.
"They'll take the flyers and literally canvas door to door and Ocean Boulevard, hand out the flyers to the different hotels and see if somebody might have seen these people to give them that extra little help," Knipes said.
"They're just an anonymous face. With Myrtle Beach having such a high transient population with people coming in for a weekend or a week at a time there's different faces all the time so they can just blend in a lot easier."
Jake Ziegler's family says that he was an avid user of Facebook and Twitter, but both online social media sites have been quiet since he started the trip.
Classmates and friends of the two teens have taken to social media in an effort to raise awareness of their disappearance.
They are tweeting photos and information and asking questions, using the hashtag #FindJakeandRay. Thousands of tweets have gone out asking for help to find them.
Again, the boys were last seen driving a 2006 Green Pontiac G-6 with NC plates BDD-8844. Dial 911 immediately if you have any info.
The teens have been missing since early Saturday, when family members believe they were headed to the Myrtle Beach area.
"He would never do this to me. This is so uncharacteristic," said Jake's sister Jackie Ziegler.
Lewis believes the crash, if it happened, would have occurred along the interstate near mile marker 48. He says the search could be difficult because Ziegler and Pierce were driving in a green Pontiac.
The search intensified Wednesday morning, as the Fairfield County Sheriff's Office teamed up with SLED investigators to search along Interstate 77 with helicopters and ground crews.
Search teams used four-wheelers and the Highway Patrol's helicopter.
Sue Ziegler, the mother of 18-year-old Jake Ziegler, says a team of volunteers also gathered at the public safety building on Main Street in Conway, South Carolina on Wednesday morning.
Ziegler said the family is urging people in the Charlotte area to volunteer in the search efforts. She says the family is offering a $5,000 reward to anyone who can lead searchers to the teens.
Family members say they have reason to believe the missing teens may be in Conway but said they weren't releasing what information led them there.
"My son doesn't have much longer, if he's alive. I believe he is," said Zig Ziegler.
According to Catawba County Sheriff Coy Reid, multiple law enforcement agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, are now involved in the search.
A spokesman for the Fairfield County Sheriff's Office says that one of the boy's cell phones last picked up service along Interstate 77 between exits 45 and 48.
According to the cell phone company, the ping radius for the phone is around four miles. Investigators are searching a five-mile area.
A helicopter search Tuesday morning by the S.C. Law Enforcement Division found no sign of vehicle wreckage along the interstate in the county in previous searches earlier this week.
The last known contact with either of the teens was around 2:30 a.m. on Saturday when Jake sent a text that pinged off a cell phone tower near Rock Hill, SC.
Both families are worried.
The last known contact with either of the teens was around 2:30 a.m. on Saturday when Jake sent a text that pinged off a cell phone tower near Rock Hill, SC.
Both families are worried.
"There is no activity on their cell phones, on their debit cards. We don't believe they don't have any cash with them. They have one Shell card for gas and they can use it for food," Jackie Ziegler said.
Jackie says it is unlike her younger brother, Jake to not contact her.
"I understand the statistics and I understand that but this is not my brother. And there's no chance in hell he would go this far without contacting me," Ziegler said.
Ziegler says they are looking for a 2006 Green Pontiac G-6 with NC plates BDD-8844.
Jake's father, Zig Ziegler, told WBTV that he has driven to Myrtle Beach and back looking for the car the teens were last seen in. Ziegler also says he rented two planes to fly the route from Denver to Myrtle Beach to search for the car.
Myrtle Beach Police Captain David Knipes said the city is a magnet for runaway teens and people looking for a hide-out.
But, he added, missing juveniles do not go unnoticed. Knipes said a special group of officers make up a juvenile department, specializing in locating missing persons.
"They'll take the flyers and literally canvas door to door and Ocean Boulevard, hand out the flyers to the different hotels and see if somebody might have seen these people to give them that extra little help," Knipes said.
"They're just an anonymous face. With Myrtle Beach having such a high transient population with people coming in for a weekend or a week at a time there's different faces all the time so they can just blend in a lot easier."
Jake Ziegler's family says that he was an avid user of Facebook and Twitter, but both online social media sites have been quiet since he started the trip.
Classmates and friends of the two teens have taken to social media in an effort to raise awareness of their disappearance.
They are tweeting photos and information and asking questions, using the hashtag #FindJakeandRay. Thousands of tweets have gone out asking for help to find them.
Again, the boys were last seen driving a 2006 Green Pontiac G-6 with NC plates BDD-8844. Dial 911 immediately if you have any info.
