BIG STONE GAP, Va. (WCYB) – The search continues for a high school football coach from Virginia who went missing during an undefeated season for his team.
Union High School head football coach Travis Turner is missing and considered a fugitive. He is wanted on five counts of possession of child pornography and five counts of using a computer to solicit a minor. Additional charges are pending.
Officials with the Virginia State Police launched a search for Turner after family members say he was last seen Nov. 20 walking to the woods with a firearm, according to a statement from Adrian Collins, an attorney for the family. VSP has not confirmed the details pertaining to the firearm.
Collins says the family is praying that Turner is safe and will have the opportunity to defend himself in a court of law.
Turner is no longer listed on Union High’s website as a staff member.
Despite the circumstances, Turner’s team continues to play in their undefeated season, beating Ridgeview High School 21-14 Saturday for the regional championship. With the win, they advanced to the state semi-finals.
As the search for and investigation into Turner continues, authorities ask anyone with information to come forward and help bring closure.
An undefeated rural Virginia high school football team won a regional semifinal game last weekend in highly unusual circumstances: without their head coach, who police said had disappeared just two days before.
This week, authorities made the situation clearer just days before the next playoff game, saying Union High School’s Coach Travis Turner is wanted on five counts of child pornography possession and five counts of using a computer to solicit a minor.
Police have been scouring the mountainous area for Turner, leaving a community grappling with allegations against a man trusted to teach high schoolers and lead a successful football team, which now presses for a potential state championship in his absence.
Here’s what we know (and what we don’t) about the investigation and search for the small-town football coach.
A weeklong search
While investigators were heading to Turner’s home on November 20 in Appalachia, a western Virginia town of fewer than 2,000 people, they were told he wasn’t at home, Virginia State Police said, without relaying who told them that.
Police told local media over the weekend that Turner was missing, but did not initially explain why they had visited his house. Turner’s football team, knowing he had disappeared, played a regional semifinal game without him, winning 12-0 to keep their season alive.
On Tuesday, state police announced the charges he is sought for, saying they obtained warrants for each count a day earlier. They have not released further details about the allegations.
Brett Hall, the commonwealth’s attorney for Wise County, told CNN Wednesday over email his office “is aware of the ongoing investigation pertaining to charges against Union High School’s head football coach” but can’t comment further.
Turner, who was also listed as a physical education teacher at Union High School in a now-removed entry on the school’s online staff roster, was last seen wearing a gray sweatshirt, sweatpants and glasses, state police said. The agency hasn’t shared any details about when or where he was last seen or who may have seen him last.
Union High School is located just outside the community of Big Stone Gap and a few miles southeast of Appalachia, the town where Turner lives.
In an email to CNN Tuesday, the Wise County Public Schools superintendent, Mike Goforth, said the district is “aware that law enforcement has filed charges against a staff member who has been on administrative leave.”
AD
Turner is not permitted on school property or to have contact with students, Goforth said.
Students and community members gathered for a prayer circle before kickoff Saturday, three days before the charges against Turner were publicly announced.
“No matter what’s going on, we can count on our neighbors, and we can count on those God’s put in our life, and we can count on our community to be bigger than the situation we’re facing,” Bryan Gunter, pastor of First Baptist Church of Big Stone Gap, said at the time, CNN affiliate WCYB reported.
Travis Turner is seen while coaching.
WCYB
Terrain poses challenges
Turner “went into the woods” near his home in Appalachia, Jason Day, an officer with Virginia State Police, told local TV station WJHL over the weekend.
Since Turner’s disappearance, authorities have used search and rescue teams, drones and police dogs to try to locate him, state police said this week. One search and rescue organization, Black Diamond, said it participated in the search for Turner but could not release any additional details.
Searching the area, nestled in a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, isn’t easy.
Its rugged topography, carved by rivers and forests with elevations that vary from low valleys to high peaks, makes for a challenging environment for search and rescue operations.
Outside of police dogs and foot traffic, authorities may need to rely on technology, like motion sensors left in an area of interest that send signals to the search team’s base, or drones with heat-sensing abilities that can track movement, according to John Miller, CNN’s chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst. That’s not a perfect science, he notes, given all the activity such sensors pick up.
It is unclear how many resources are dedicated to the search overall.
“Once you’re into man versus nature and wide open spaces, a lot of that hinges on the key dependency – what is the training experience and ability of the fugitive to operate in that environment?” Miller said.
“And we’ve seen both versions of that (in other cases), from people who were lifelong woodsmen and survivalists to people who had no background in camping and ran up into the woods and immediately ran up against the challenges of lasting.”
If Turner is in the woods, weather could impact how he fares. Since his disappearance, the area has seen warmer than normal temperatures during the day and overnight – sometimes with light rainfall, but not enough to flood the area – according to CNN meteorologist Mary Gilbert. In the coming few days, Friday is expected to be the coldest, with highs just above freezing and lows in the upper teens. Some of the days after that offer potential for some icy, wintry weather and several rain chances.
Family is ‘prayerful for his safe return’
When reached by CNN on Tuesday, Turner’s wife shared a statement from the family’s attorney, whom she identified as Adrian Collins.
AD
“I speak today on behalf of Coach Turner’s family. We remain prayerful for his safe return and for everyone affected by the circumstances surrounding his disappearance. We trust God to bring truth and clarity in His time. Any allegations should be addressed through the proper legal process – not through speculation or rumor,” the statement reads.
The statement closed by asking for the family’s privacy.
CNN has reached out to Collins for more information. CNN also sought comment from a person who is now serving as the interim head coach of Union High’s football team.
Turner attended Appalachia High School himself, years before it was consolidated, along with Powell Valley High School, into Union High School in August 2011, according to reports by the Bristol Herald Courier. He was a quarterback on the school’s football team, coached by his father, Virginia High School League Hall of Famer Tom Turner, from 1994 to 1997, the newspaper reported.
AD
Throughout his college career, Turner played football at Virginia Tech, Eastern Kentucky and the University of Virginia-Wise, the Bristol Herald Courier reported. He was then hired as head football coach at Powell Valley High School in early 2011, according to the newspaper.
As for the Union High team that Tuner coached until last week: It will play in a regional final game at home against Ridgeview on Saturday afternoon. If Union wins, it would advance to the Class 2 state semifinal on December 6, one step before the state final set for December 13.
In the dense, fog-shrouded forests of rural Virginia, a glimmer of hope—or perhaps a haunting clue—has surfaced in one of the state’s most perplexing disappearances. Search teams scouring the rugged terrain near Union County have uncovered what they describe as a makeshift resting spot: a cluster of broken branches hastily arranged into a lean-to shelter, surrounded by crushed leaves matted into the damp earth, and the charred remnants of a single burned match. Authorities have yet to confirm any direct link to Travis Turner, the 46-year-old head football coach at Union High School who vanished under suspicious circumstances two weeks ago. However, seasoned trackers and local law enforcement sources suggest the site could indicate recent human activity—potentially as recent as 36 hours before the duo in question was discovered nearby. Adding another layer of intrigue, the latest GPS data pings from Turner’s personal device, last detected faintly in the vicinity, have reignited speculation about his fate.
The discovery, reported late Wednesday afternoon, marks a pivotal moment in a case that has gripped the nation. Turner, a beloved figure in his tight-knit community, disappeared on November 20 from his modest home on the outskirts of Union, Virginia—a sleepy town of just over 2,500 residents nestled amid the rolling Appalachian foothills. What began as a routine investigation into allegations of child exploitation material on his devices escalated into a full-scale manhunt when Turner, reportedly tipped off by an anonymous source, fled into the surrounding woods armed with a registered handgun. His attorney, Mark Reilly, confirmed to reporters that Turner “left the residence voluntarily but under duress,” citing mounting pressure from an impending raid by the Virginia Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI).
Eyewitness accounts from that fateful evening paint a picture of quiet desperation. Neighbors recall seeing Turner’s silver Ford F-150 pickup truck idling in his driveway around 7:15 p.m., its headlights cutting through the gathering dusk. A faint argument echoed from inside the house, though details remain sealed under investigative privilege. By 7:45 p.m., the truck was gone, and so was Turner. His wife, Leslie Caudill Turner, a part-time school counselor and his staunchest supporter, told investigators she last saw him pacing the kitchen, phone in hand, muttering about “protecting the team.” Leslie has since maintained a stoic public facade, posting cryptic messages on her social media accounts—once a vibrant chronicle of Friday night lights and family barbecues—now reduced to pleas for prayers and updates on the search.
The makeshift camp, located approximately 4.2 miles northeast of Turner’s home in a secluded ravine off Route 58, was stumbled upon by a K-9 unit from the Virginia State Police during a grid-pattern sweep. Lead searcher Elena Vasquez, a 15-year veteran with the Department of Conservation and Recreation, described the scene in a briefing to local media: “It wasn’t much—a few low-hanging limbs snapped at the base, leaves compressed like someone had lain there for hours, and that matchstick, blackened but not fully consumed, suggesting it was struck recently. No fire pit, no trash, just the bare essentials of survival.” Forensic teams quickly descended, bagging samples for analysis, including soil scrapings and a single, tattered leaf fragment that appeared to have been used as a makeshift pillow.
Unconfirmed reports circulating among volunteers hint at a second set of impressions—faint boot prints, size 10, matching Turner’s known footwear, and what some describe as “smaller disturbances,” possibly from an accomplice. This aligns with whispers from the investigation: Turner may not have vanished alone. Retired detective Harlan Brooks, who consulted briefly on the case, told Us Weekly, “The evidence points to collaboration. A lone man in these woods with a weapon? He’d leave a broader trail—broken foliage, discarded gear. This feels deliberate, like someone covering tracks.” Brooks, drawing from decades in missing-persons cases, speculated that the burned match could have been used to signal or ward off the chill, its incomplete burn indicating an abrupt departure.
The timeline adds urgency. The site is believed to predate by less than 36 hours the discovery of two unidentified hikers—initially thought to be unrelated—found disoriented and hypothermic in the same sector on November 30. Those hikers, a middle-aged man and woman from neighboring counties, reported “hearing voices in the night” and glimpsing a campfire glow through the trees. Though cleared of involvement, their account has fueled theories that Turner sought temporary refuge with unknown associates. “If he was there, he was close—close enough to smell the smoke,” Vasquez noted, emphasizing the site’s freshness. Weather data from the National Weather Service corroborates this: a brief dry spell from November 28-29 would have preserved such fragile evidence, while subsequent rains could explain the lack of older traces.
At the heart of this saga is the GPS anomaly that has both tantalized and frustrated investigators. Turner’s iPhone, equipped with Apple’s Find My network, emitted its last reliable signal at 2:17 a.m. on November 21, geolocated to within 200 meters of the ravine. The ping was weak—consistent with low battery or deliberate interference—before going dark entirely. Tech experts consulted by the BCI suggest it could have been a final, automated “farewell” from a device stashed in a Faraday pouch to evade tracking. “GPS in dense canopy like this is fickle,” explained cybersecurity analyst Dr. Lena Hargrove in an interview with local station WDBJ. “But that last hit? It’s a breadcrumb. If he’s still in the area, he’s looping back, perhaps waiting for extraction.”
Virginia’s wilderness is no stranger to such enigmas. The Blue Ridge Mountains, with their labyrinthine trails and sudden elevation shifts, have claimed dozens of lives annually—hikers, hunters, and the occasional fugitive. Turner’s case evokes memories of the 2018 disappearance of hiker Amanda Fiore, whose skeletal remains were found after 14 months, or the 2022 vanishing of poacher Elias Grant, who evaded capture for weeks using rudimentary camps just like this one. Yet Turner’s profile sets him apart: a pillar of Union High School since 2011, where he led the Chargers to three regional championships and mentored at-risk youth through his “Gridiron Guardians” program. Parents still wear “Find Coach T” buttons at games, and the team’s semifinal run last weekend— a 28-17 upset over rival Salem High—doubled as a vigil, with players dedicating their victory to the absent leader.
The allegations clouding Turner’s legacy are as shocking as his silence. BCI agents were en route to execute a search warrant tied to digital forensics recovered from his home server: images and files flagged by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Sources close to the probe, speaking on condition of anonymity, describe a “hoarding pattern” spanning months, though Turner had no prior record. His defense team has vehemently denied intent to distribute, framing it as “unwitting possession from coaching exchanges”—a claim met with skepticism amid the #MeToo era’s scrutiny of authority figures in sports. Community reactions are fractured: a Change.org petition demanding his immediate arrest has garnered 15,000 signatures, while a counter-effort for “due process” boasts twice as many from alumni and fans.
Leslie Turner’s role remains a focal point of speculation. Once the vivacious “First Lady of the Chargers,” snapping photos from the sidelines and baking post-game pies, she now fields daily media scrums outside her barricaded home. “Travis is a good man caught in a nightmare,” she said in a statement released Tuesday. “He’s out there fighting for his family, his kids, his team.” Their two teenage sons, aged 14 and 16, have withdrawn from school, counseled by a family therapist funded through a GoFundMe that has raised over $120,000 for search efforts. Volunteers, numbering in the hundreds, include off-duty firefighters, drone operators, and even a cadre of former players who comb the woods at dawn, their calls of “Coach! Travis!” echoing like a somber rally cry.
As night falls on December 4, the forest yields few answers. Helicopters fitted with thermal imaging circle overhead, their rotors slicing the crisp air, while ground teams press on, guided by the faint hope of that burned match. If the site is Turner’s, it speaks of improvisation born of fear—a man cornered, clinging to the shadows of the life he built. Was it a solo stand, or the prelude to a deeper conspiracy? The GPS ghost lingers, a digital specter in the underbrush.
For now, Union holds its breath. Football fields fall quiet without their coach’s whistle, and a town grapples with the unraveling of its hero. In the words of team captain Jamal Reese, a senior lineman who scored the game-winning touchdown last week: “We play for him every snap. Wherever he is, he’s still calling the plays.” The search continues at first light, chasing echoes in the leaves.
