Missing Jake Ziegler & Ray Pierce- Catawba, NC since 10/13/12(Deceased)

[klaasend]

http://www.wcnc.com/home/2-Catawba-teens-missing-since-Saturday-174439091.html


Facebook photos of Jake Ziegler, 18, and Ray Pierce, 17.

Search continues for two missing Catawba teens



by The Charlotte ******* and WCNC.com Staff

Posted on October 17, 2012 at 10:26 AM

Updated today at 12:33 PM

CATAWBA COUNTY, N.C. -- Hundreds of friends and family members are fanning out Wednesday across two parts of South Carolina, looking for two young men from Catawba County who have been missing since early Saturday.

Jake Ziegler, 18, and Ray Pierce, 17, left a party near Sherrills Ford in the early-morning hours Saturday, telling friends they were headed for Myrtle Beach. The two, seniors at Bandys High School, haven’t been seen since.

One group of searchers gathered at 8 a.m. Wednesday at the Conway Public Safety Building in Horry County, to look across the Myrtle Beach area. Meanwhile, others planned to travel along the Interstate 77 corridor from south of Rock Hill to Columbia. ::snipping2::

[darla]

http://www.wcnc.com/home/2-Catawba-teens-missing-since-Saturday-174439091.html

 ::snipping2::
Jake Ziegler, 18, and Ray Pierce, 17, left a party near Sherrills Ford in the early-morning hours Saturday, telling friends they were headed for Myrtle Beach. The two, seniors at Bandys High School, haven’t been seen since.

One group of searchers gathered at 8 a.m. Wednesday at the Conway Public Safety Building in Horry County, to look across the Myrtle Beach area. Meanwhile, others planned to travel along the Interstate 77 corridor from south of Rock Hill to Columbia.

I-77 has emerged as a center of attention, because the last known contact from the teens came there.

Authorities say one of the teens sent a text message about 2:45 a.m. Saturday, and they say the phone was in use on I-77 in Fairfield County, between exits 45 and 48. That is about 35 miles north of Columbia. The signal bounced off a cell tower in Rock Hill.

[darla]

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/news/local/search-continues-2-missing-south-carolina-teens/nSf7X/

 ::snipping2::

Deputies said for the first time they have several concerns about the case that they are centering around the teenagers' cellphones.

"I'm not going home until my brother is found," said Kimberly Pierce.

Since the weekend, Kimberly and Michelle Pierce have looked nonstop for their brother and Ziegler.

The two left for Myrtle Beach early Saturday morning, texting and calling friends as they traveled south along I-77.

Deputies said that communication stopped in Fairfield County according to the last ping recorded on cellphone tower No. 12.

"We just learned tower 12 is this one behind me, and at 2:44 in the morning, their cellphone hit off that tower. They were 1.7 miles south of that tower," said Chief Deputy Keith Lewis.
 ::snipping2::


6pm news says nothing found today. Will be dark in about 15 mins here. Police will be checking all businesses  for surveillance video at each exit along I-77 with hopes of narrowing the search. I-77 runs into I-26 just south of Columbia which goes to Charleston. The closest way to Myrtle Beach Would be to leave I-77 Just north of Columbia and take I-20 east to Florence S.C.  So there is a lot of territory to have to search. Plus there are several places on I-77 before they made it to Columbia for them to take to county and state rds. heading to the beach. 

[Sister]

Thanks for these updates darla.

[Rob]

Just an educated guess - but sounds like they went into a lake or pond. So many in the Myrtle area.

[darla]

The news was saying they had 2 searches going, one starting in Conway S.C. which is about 14 miles north of MB. and the other in the area where the cell phone went silent. I am not sure what lakes or ponds are in the area from Fairfield Co. into Richland Co. I have never been on that segment. If they stopped in Fairfield Co. at a Store or whatever that is not the safest co. in our state.
I will update as anything new comes out.

[darla]

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/news/local/friends-family-search-2-missing-teenagers/nSfC4/

 ::snipping2::

Zig Ziegler showed Eyewitness News the route he took by plane, looking for any sign of his son, Jake, and his friend Ray Pierce.  Family members said neither teenager has used his cell phone since early Saturday morning to text or call any family members or friends.
“When their phones went dead at pretty much the same time, it almost indicates to me there was an accident,” Ziegler said.
Sheriff’s deputies said they have no reason to suspect foul play, but they are concerned because the last place they were able to trace the phones was to a cell tower in Rock Hill. They also told Channel 9 there has been no activity in their bank accounts, and family members said they haven't used a credit card.
Some of their classmates were in South Carolina on Tuesday, hoping for find answers.
“We are just trying to keep positive,” student Cassidy Peeler said. “We are going to try our hardest to find them safe and sound.”
“I think something happened to them. And I'm just hoping we find them today -- very soon,” student Chance McNahan said.

[Amys Sister]

I sure hope they're found.  Many of the roads leading into Conway and Myrtle are lined with ravines, marshy waterways, and long stretches with no concrete barrier.

[grace-land]

http://www.foxcarolina.com/story/19819949/missing-teens-may-be-myrtle-beach-bound

Clerk claims missing NC teens bought clothes Saturday
Posted: Oct 15, 2012 7:04 AM CDT Updated: Oct 18, 2012 11:02 AM CDT

MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) - While search efforts in Conway head into day two for two missing teens out of North Carolina, police are also looking into a new lead from a sales clerk in a department store who says she sold the teens clothes over the weekend.
 
A woman who works at the Belk store on North Kings Highway in Myrtle Beach says she is positive she sold the teens clothes on Saturday. Police are working to get the surveillance video from the store to verify the employee's claim.
 
The lead from the sales clerk comes on day two of an intense search for Jake Ziegler, 18, and 17-year-old Ray Pierce, the two missing North Carolina teens believed to have been headed to Myrtle Beach early Oct. 13.
 
More than 100 volunteers showed up Thursday morning in Conway to offer help in finding Ziegler and Pierce. Meanwhile, cadaver and bloodhound dogs are searching the Fairfield County area between exits 41 and 49, based on the last cell phone tower ping from the teens
 ::snipping2::

[darla]

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/news/local/search-continues-two-missing-teenagers/nSgtZ/

 ::snipping2::— Search crews concentrated their efforts on a secondary road off Interstate 77 on Thursday in the search for two missing teenagers.
Monica Caisson and more than a dozen volunteers from the CUE Center for Missing Persons worked their way through thick brush, hoping to find some sign of Jake Ziegler or Ray Pierce. 
Deputies said a cell tower pinged one of their phones early Saturday morning, 40 miles north of Columbia. They have not been heard from since.
“Hopefully, we are still in the window that if they are out there and injured, we can find them, and that's why there is an urgency
 ::snipping2::“Ray is here. Ray is somewhere here,” said his uncle, Ray Pierce. “We can't find him, and that's why everything is here.”
Investigators told Channel 9 they have checked surveillance video at every store along the interstate and have not seen the teenagers.
Other family members are following leads along the coast, but deputies said the evidence shows their last cell signal was in Fairfield County. That's why friends like Scotti Miller remain hopeful.

[darla]

Sorry there has really not been any new information on the news. I guess because of their age it is not headline news. From what I am gathering on Facebook, there is another huge search today. Hope they are found soon.

[Northern Rose]

Search of NC teens missing in SC moves inland
Saturday, October 20, 2012

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) — The search for two North Carolina teens who went missing more than a week ago on the way to the beach is now focused inland.

The Sun News of Myrtle Beach reported Saturday (http://bit.ly/TGrbcV ) that the search for 18-year-old Jake Ziegler and 17-year-old Ray Pierce is centered on the area near Interstate 77 in Fairfield County, where authorities say Ziegler used his cell phone to send a text message on Oct. 13 at about 2:45 a.m. Dozens of volunteers are combing an area near Blythewood, about 25 miles north of Columbia.

 ::snipping2::

http://www.reflector.com/ap/staten/search-nc-teens-missing-sc-moves-inland-1280625

[Northern Rose]

Search for missing N.C. teens moving out of Horry County
Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012

MYRTLE BEACH -- The search for two North Carolina teens who have been missing for more than a week is stopping in Horry County.

Jackie Ziegler, sister of one of the teens, Jake Ziegler, 18, said Saturday afternoon the search that has been centered around Conway since Wednesday has moved into the Blythewood area, which is near exit 48 just off of Interstate 77 in Fairfield County.

“I’ve completely pulled out of Myrtle Beach,” Jackie Ziegler said. “I have no confirmation that they made it.”

She added the new search has started at a cell tower near I-77 and will head south.
Authorities said one of the teens sent a text message about 2:45 a.m. on Oct. 13, and the phone was in use on I-77 in Fairfield County, between exits 45 and 48. That is about 35 miles north of Columbia. The signal bounced off a cell tower in Rock Hill.

Jackie Ziegler said there are currently 60 to 80 volunteers searching that area. The search isn’t expected to come back to Myrtle Beach unless some legitimate leads are found, she added.

 ::snipping2::

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/2012/10/20/3124716/search-for-missing-nc-teens-moving.html

[Northern Rose]

Multiple Myrtle Beach sightings of missing N.C. teens still not confirmed
Friday, Oct. 19, 2012

MYRTLE BEACH -- Tips continue to pour in while family and friends search for a pair of teens from North Carolina who have been missing for a week.

Jake Ziegler, 18, and Ray Pierce, 17, left a party near Sherrills Ford, N.C., in the early-morning hours last Saturday, telling friends they were headed for Myrtle Beach to see the sun rise. The two, seniors at Bandys High School, haven’t been seen since.

One of the latest tips on Friday was investigated by Myrtle Beach police.

Capt. David Knipes said someone reported seeing the pair at the Gay Dolphin, a landmark gift shop on Ocean Boulevard, about 11 a.m. Monday. There is no surveillance footage inside the shop or on the streets to confirm that sighting, Knipes said.

Jackie Ziegler, sister of Jake Ziegler, said the search moved to the Conway area on tips from multiple psychics who said the boys are injured in a overturned car in a desolate area.

The last known contact from the teens came from the Interstate 77 area.

 ::snipping2::

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/2012/10/19/3123925/multiple-myrtle-beach-sightings.html

[Northern Rose]

Search on for missing teens who may have crashed
Father believes son alive, in car near highway
Published  12:37 PM EDT Oct 19, 2012


Text Size:ASmall TextAMedium TextALarge Text..
SHERRILLS FORD, N.C. — Authorities are searching for two missing Catawba County high school students who left home for a party last weekend and haven't been heard from since.

Officials say friends of 18-year-old Jake Ziegler and 17-year-old Ray Pierce said the two were headed for Myrtle Beach, S.C., around 1:30 a.m. last Saturday.

The last contact from the high school seniors was at about 2:45 a.m. Saturday, when Ziegler sent a text message. Authorities say the message was sent from Interstate 77 in Fairfield County in South Carolina, about 35 miles north of Columbia.

Neither their cell phones nor their debit cards have been used since.

Part of the search is focusing on I-77 between Rock Hill and Columbia, S.C., where it's believed the teens' car may have crashed. Another search is under way in Horry County

 ::snipping2::

http://www.wyff4.com/news/columbia-statewide-news/Search-on-for-missing-teens-who-may-have-crashed/-/9324106/17056750/-/32cv1f/-/index.html

[grace-land]

Video at link

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/news/search-missing-catawba-county-teens-continues/nSjky/

Posted: 9:21 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 21, 2012
Search for missing Catawba County teens continues

The families of two missing Catawba County teens continued their search Sunday.

Eighteen-year-old Jake Ziegler and 17-year-old Ray Pierce told their families they were headed to Myrtle Beach a week ago and haven’t been heard from since.

Investigators told Eyewitness News that reports of the teens being spotted at a Myrtle Beach gas station and department store turned out to be false.

The families of the two boys said they had hoped the sightings were true and after hearing that they weren’t true, they promised not to give up.

“I want to curl up in a ball and stay in bed until this is over and we can’t. I can’t. I will not,” said Jackie, Jake’s sister. 

Investigators said their cell phone signal was last detected Oct. 13 near mile marker 48 on Interstate 77 near Fairfield County.

In a press conference held in Blythewood, S.C., family members announced plans to refocus the search in that area.
 ::snipping2::

[grace-land]

http://www.wmbfnews.com/story/19819379/private-investigator-missing-teens-are-not-runaways

Private Investigator: Missing teens are not runaways
Posted: Oct 15, 2012 5:54 AM CDT Updated: Oct 22, 2012 11:01 AM CDT

CATAWBA COUNTY, NC (WBTV) -
The families of Jake Ziegler, 18,  and Ray Pierce, 17,  have hired a private investigators to work with them and help find the missing teens.
 
"We just need that next piece to give us another direction," said Kevin Ryan. He does not believe the boys ran away or were abducted.

Ryan met with reporters Sunday in Blythewood, South Carolina, along with family members of Ziegler and Pierce. They chose that location because the last ping from a cell phone came from that area.

A search team canvassed areas near I-77 Sunday.
 
So far they say, there are no new leads.
 ::snipping2::
 

[grace-land]

http://www2.hickoryrecord.com/news/2012/oct/22/families-missing-teens-refocusing-efforts-ar-2716415/

Families of missing teens refocusing efforts
Published: October 22, 2012 Updated: October 22, 2012 - 4:18 PM

While law enforcement continues to search in South Carolina for Sherrills Ford missing teens Jake Ziegler and Ray Pierce, family members have retreated for rest and renewal, according to Jackie Ziegler, sister of Ziegler. On Monday, it has been 10 days since the teens were last seen.

Several South Carolina law enforcement organizations, including county sheriffs and police offices, the SBI, SLED and CUE Center for Missing Persons continue the search efforts, but have turned up no new leads.

On Sunday Kevin Ryan, a friend of the Ziegler family and a private investigator from Philadelphia, joined in the cause. “I felt I needed someone to help keep me sane and focused,” said Jackie Ziegler.

Volunteers handed out fliers to fans from South Carolina after the Carolina Panther- Dallas Cowboys game in Charlotte on Sunday, according to news sources.

A Facebook account that was originally created to disseminate ongoing information on the search is in the process of being shut down at the request of authorities, according to Ziegler. The shut down is due to “negative/argumentative comments, lack of respect and people not following requests/instructions,” according to the latest update on the site.

“You’re gonna have your bad eggs,” said Ziegler of some of the posts on the account.

Multiple leads, including a sighting at a Belks store in Myrtle Beach and clothing thought to have belonged to one of the teens, have produced no results.
 ::snipping2::

[grace-land]

http://www.wbtv.com/story/19896946/teens-missing-for-10-days-parents-speak-out

Teens missing for 10 days: Parents speak out
Posted: Oct 23, 2012 6:03 PM CDT Updated: Oct 23, 2012 6:03 PM CDT

CATAWBA CO., NC (WBTV) - Tuesday marks the 10th day since anyone saw or heard from Jake Ziegler or Ray Pierce. The teenagers disappeared after leaving October 13th for a trip to Myrtle Beach.
 
The last text sent from one of the boy's phones said, "We're almost at the beach." But investigators have said they don't think they ever made it that far.

In the days since their disappearance, hundreds of volunteers and friends have helped the families search hundreds of miles of roadsides and routes looking for any sign of the two boys. Investigators in 4 counties have searched with helicopters and ATV's and on foot with still no sign.

There has been no activity on either of the boy's cell phones are debit cards since they vanished.
 
"It's tough to eat, it's tough to sleep, if you're sleeping, it's tough to get yourself up the next day and get going again," said Jake Ziegler's father Zig.
 
The families are back in Catawba County now, regrouping after days with little to no sleep.
  ::snipping2::

[grace-land]

http://www2.hickoryrecord.com/news/2012/oct/23/awaiting-evidence-sherrills-ford-teens-ar-2719735/

Awaiting evidence of Sherrills Ford teens
Published: October 23, 2012 Updated: October 23, 2012 - 4:56 PM

“It feels like a waiting game,” said Jackie Ziegler, sister of missing Jake Ziegler. The teenager and his friend, Ray Pierce, have been missing since October 13, when the two began a drive to the beach and back. Nothing has been uncovered regarding their whereabouts except a last text sent at 2:44 am on that Saturday.

Kevin Ryan, friend of the family and private investigator, will be retracing the actions of the two teens going back to that Saturday and beyond. “I’ll look at what they were doing all the way back to two weeks prior to their disappearance, looking for anything that stands apart,” he said.

Ryan will return to Philadelphia and continue to run his investigation from there. “I’ll come back if anything breaks.” As time passes it gets harder and harder, he said. “We want to bring these boys home.”
 ::snipping2::
Several South Carolina law enforcement organizations, including county sheriffs and police offices, the SBI, SLED and CUE Center for Missing Persons continue the search efforts, but have turned up no new leads. Ziegler expressed gratitude over the efforts. “They are actively searching,” she said.
 ::snipping2::