Jeffrey Putnam

TILTON, Ga. — Seven dogs will hit the trail at 8 a.m. today in the search for a Whitfield County teenager missing since Thursday night. Ground searcher are to start at daybreak, said Jeff Putnam, Whitfield Emergency Services director.

The search for Brett Andrew Thomason, 19, was suspended at dark Friday for safety reasons. About 60 people from various law enforcement agencies combed the area, supported by three helicopters and a Georgia Department of Natural Resources boat equipped with an underwater camera.

“We searched as hard as we possibly could,” Mr. Putnam said. “We looked at every area we can imagine.”

More than 50 community and family members and friends also joined the search on foot and with ATVs.

Staff Photo by Tim Barber Dana Massey, left, is consoled by family friend Angie Johnson Friday afternoon on the lot of the Riverbend Baptist Church. The search for Mrs. Massey's son continues in south Whitfield County.

Family members say Mr. Thomason was last seen by two 16-year-old friends about 8:30 p.m. Thursday during a trip along the Conasauga River in a flat-bottom aluminum boat. Friends and family said he put the friends ashore to walk on foot and said he was going to keep going south on the river to Tilton Bridge.

Searchers found the boat on the bank about five “river miles” upstream from the Tilton Road Bridge and one river mile downstream from where he dropped of his friends.

Officials said the meandering river, which forms the boundary between Whitfield and Murray counties, is about 6 feet deep now.

Search teams found a bag of Mr. Thomason’s wet clothes with the boat and two wooden oars on land nearby, said Ashlee Swilling, spokeswoman for Whitfield Emergency Services.

Searchers speculated that if the teen left the area on foot he would likely walk toward his dad’s house, which is five miles or more from where the boat was found.

Dana Massey, Mr. Thomason’s mother, said her son had a change of clothes with him and the wet clothes in the bag were a pair of pants, an Army-type jacket and an Under Armour insulated shirt.

“I’m just worried about it being so cold,” Mrs. Massey said Friday afternoon. Forecasters expected temperature to drop into the upper 20s Friday night.

Mr. Thomason has enlisted in the Marines and is scheduled to leave in mid-April for boot camp, Mrs. Massey said.

Family friend Blake Powers, 18, said Mr. Thomason is “just a normal kid.” He said his friend looked forward to serving his country and had no particular worries.

Another friend, Heather Franklin, 17, said Mr. Thomason was an avid camper and knew the woods well, but Mr. Thomason’s mother said this was his first trip down the Conasauga in that boat.