Missing teen’s mom worried about the cold weather

TILTON, Ga. — Dana Massey was calm as she stood in the command post where a search for her son, missing boater Brett Thomason, is being organized.

She said searchers looking for the 19-year-old, who failed to return after dropping off two friends and floating downriver on the Conasauga River, is an inexperienced boater.

But she said Mr. Thomason apparently had changed into dry clothes that he brought on the trip — his wet ones were found in a bag near the boat — and that searchers found an oar in a field near the water.

“I’m just worried about it being so cold,” Ms. Massey said.

Mr. Thomason joined the Marines and is scheduled to leave in mid-April for boot camp, she said.

Standing in the command post, local resident Heather Franklin said she has been on camping trips with Mr. Thomason and that he knows the woods.

Whitfield County Emergency Services spokeswoman Ashley Swilling said searchers began looking for the young man when his friends reported he had not rejoined them as planned after a trip.

Ms. Swilling said Mr. Thomason had gone paddling about 6 p.m. with some friends, and was last seen about 8:30 p.m. when the friends left the river.

They reported Mr. Thomason told them said he was going to continue down river in the boat, which she described as a non-motorized sort of john-board, in an attempt to reach the Tilton Road bridge.

When he did not come home, emergency services was contacted after someone called 911 about 12:45 a.m.

She said his boat and the clothing were found at about 4 a.m.

The Georgia State Patrol and Department of Natural Resources personnel had joined in the search effort, assisting teams from Whitfield and Gordon counties, Ms. Swilling said. A DNR boat with equipment used to search for underwater objects was put on the Conasauga River shortly before 2 p.m.

She said numerous agencies were involved in the search, and a GSP helicopter using forward looking infrared radar was used in the search during the pre-dawn hours and into the afternoon, but they had not found the young man.