Missing coach Travis Turner left without essentials as family urges him to face child porn charges: Attorney

Family attorney says Turner left Virginia home without key items before 10 warrants were issued

The family of missing Virginia high school football coach Travis Turner is urging him to return home and face child pornography charges, according to a statement released by their attorney.

“The family of Travis Turner continues to cooperate with law enforcement efforts to locate Travis. Their homes and properties have been searched multiple times, with their consent,” the family’s attorney, Adrian Collins, said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital.

Turner, 46, was last seen walking into the woods near his Appalachia home carrying a gun, something he had done “multiple times throughout the years,” according to the statement.

Concern quickly mounted for his wife, Leslie Caudill Turner, when she discovered that her husband, whose high school football team was in the midst of an undefeated season, had vanished without his car, keys, wallet, glasses or contacts, cash, or the prescription medications he relies on.

Travis Turner was leading the Union High School football team through an undefeated season when he disappeared from his family’s home in Appalachia, Virginia, on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. (Facebook/Leslie Caudill Turner)

“It is not like Travis to disappear or stay away from home,” the statement said.

When he did not return home, his wife contacted authorities and filed a missing person report with the Virginia State Police (VSP).

Virginia State Police have launched a search for Union High football coach Travis Turner, whose disappearance has stunned the Big Stone Gap community. (Virginia State Police)

Collins noted that criminal charges were not obtained “until days after he failed to return home.”

“He was not a fugitive nor wanted by law enforcement at the time he went missing. His wife was not helping him escape, she was asking for help to find him,” he said.

Last week, authorities obtained 10 warrants to charge Turner with five counts of possession of child pornography and five counts of using a computer to solicit a minor.

Authorities announced that they have obtained 10 warrants to charge Travis Turner with five counts of possession of child pornography and five counts of using a computer to solicit a minor. Turner is employed as a football coach at Union High School in Wise County, Virginia. (Facebook/Leslie Caudill Turner)

The family also issued a direct plea for the missing coach.

“If Travis has the ability and is able to respond to his family’s wishes; your wife and children are in distress,” the attorney said. “Leslie pleads for you to come home and face the allegations by defending yourself in a court of law. Don’t leave your family to fight this battle without you. They love and miss you. They want you to know they are your support.”

The U.S. Marshals Service announced it is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for any information leading to his arrest.

Last week, Turner’s staff profile page was removed from Union High School’s website shortly after the investigation was announced, ABC 7 reported.

Travis Turner disappeared from his family’s home in Appalachia, Virginia on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. Authorities announced that they have obtained 10 warrants to charge Turner with five counts of possession of child pornography and five counts of using a computer to solicit a minor. (Facebook/Leslie Caudill Turner)

In a previous statement, a spokesperson for Wise County Public Schools confirmed that a staff member employed by the district had been placed on administrative leave pending review of an external allegation. Days later, the district released an updated statement to acknowledge that charges have since been filed against the staff member in question, but failed to identify Turner by name.

“The individual remains on leave and is not permitted on school property or to have contact with students,” Superintendent Mike Goforth said. “The division will continue to cooperate with law enforcement as this process moves forward. Because this is an active legal matter involving personnel, the division cannot comment further.”

Union High School head football coach Travis Turner, who has been reported missing, in an undated photo released by the Virginia State Police. (Virginia State Police)

The USMS did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Turner was last seen wearing a gray sweatshirt and sweatpants, according to Virginia’s missing person database. Tips can be reported to 911, Virginia State Police or the USMS tip line at 1-877-WANTED2 or online usmarshals.gov/tips.

WHAT JUST HAPPENED: As the manhunt for disgraced high school football coach Travis Turner stretches into its third grueling week, a cadre of wilderness survival experts and criminologists has zeroed in on a harrowing new theory: the 46-year-old fugitive may be hunkered down in the labyrinthine caves and small natural cavities riddling the Jefferson National Forest, rationing scant supplies while wrestling with his next desperate move. This “unprecedented” cocktail of primal fear, relentless exposure to the elements, and spiraling psychological stress, analysts warn, could precipitate dire consequences—hallucinations, self-harm, or violent confrontation—if Turner remains entombed much longer. Yet, in a poignant twist, his family insists they “know all,” pleading through their attorney for the once-revered coach to emerge and face the storm of felony charges head-on, vowing unwavering support. As search teams probe the earth’s hidden fissures with thermal imaging and spelunking gear, the saga of Travis Turner—gridiron hero turned national enigma—unfolds like a thriller scripted by the Appalachians themselves.

The backdrop to this subterranean speculation is as rugged as the terrain it unfolds in. Travis Lee Turner, a towering figure in Wise County’s football lore, had steered the Union High School Bears to an impeccable 12-0 record, culminating in a nail-biting 21-14 playoff triumph over Ridgeview High on November 29—led by his own son Bailey as interim coach. A physical education teacher and University of Virginia Wise alum, Turner inherited his passion from his father, Hall of Famer Tom Turner, quarterbacking Appalachia High in the ’90s before the school’s merger into Union. Married 24 years to Leslie Caudill Turner, with sons Bailey (23) and Grayden (21), and daughter Brynlee (11), he was the archetype of small-town stability in this coal-scarred hamlet of 1,700 souls. But on November 20, as Virginia State Police agents from the Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s Wytheville Field Office raced toward his home amid a sealed cybercrimes probe, the idyll shattered. Mid-transit, a tip—source undisclosed—alerted them: Turner was gone.

By November 24, the dam broke: 10 felony warrants unsealed, charging Turner with five counts each of possessing child sexual abuse material and using a computer to solicit a minor, with more pending. The U.S. Marshals Service amplified the alarm on December 1, dubbing him a fugitive “possibly armed and dangerous,” and dangling a $5,000 reward for tips leading to his capture. K-9 units, drones, helicopters, and ground crews have since blanketed over 100,000 acres of the dense, fog-veiled Jefferson National Forest abutting his property, but the yields are ghostly: no boot prints, no casings, no cries in the night. Unseasonably balmy December days—highs in the 50s, sporadic drizzles—have kept hypothermia at bay, but experts caution the forest’s true predators lurk below ground.

Enter the cave hypothesis, gaining traction among analysts poring over topographic maps and Turner’s profile. Dr. Harlan Crowe, a University of Tennessee geologist and survival consultant who’s advised on cases from the Unabomber siege to the 2018 Thai cave rescue, sketched the scenario in a December 5 NPR segment. “Jefferson’s karst topography is a spelunker’s nightmare—hundreds of undocumented sinkholes, fissures, and caverns honeycombing the limestone bedrock,” Crowe explained. “Turner, a local boy raised hiking these hills, knows the backcountry intimately. But without gear, he’s likely burrowed into a small natural cavity: a dry grotto or overhang, maybe 10-20 feet deep, minimizing his thermal footprint to evade drones.” Speculation intensified after family-released CCTV footage surfaced, showing Turner’s unhurried dusk stroll—firearm holstered, no pack—straight into the treeline on November 20 at 6:15 p.m. “He’s keeping supplies minimal: whatever ammo and wild forage he can scrounge,” Crowe added. “Fear drives that—paranoia of betrayal, exposure to patrols. He’s weighing surrender, flight, or… finality.”

This isn’t idle conjecture; it’s rooted in Turner’s abandoned lifelines, detailed in a bombshell December 3 statement from family attorney Adrian Collins of Norton, Virginia’s Collins Law Firm. “Travis left his 2018 Ford F-150, keys, contact lens supplies, glasses, prescription daily medication for a chronic condition, and wallet—with license and all cash inside—at the house,” Collins revealed to outlets including Us Weekly and the Daily Mail. For a man of rigid routine—post-practice wood walks as therapy—this screams impulse, not itinerary. “It is not like Travis to disappear or stay away from home,” the missive underscored, painting a portrait of a soul unraveling under unseen pressures. Leslie, a former school administrator and fervent tailgate chef, waited the protocol-mandated 24 hours before filing the missing persons report on November 21—pre-warrants, she insists, debunking accomplice whispers. “Leslie grew concerned and reported him missing,” Collins clarified. “Criminal charges came days later.”

The family’s intimate knowledge—”HIS FAMILY KNOWS ALL”—fuels both hope and heartbreak. Through Collins, they’ve greenlit repeated searches of their properties, yielding zilch on complicity. A December 3 plea cuts deepest: “If Travis has the ability… your wife and children are in distress. Leslie pleads for you to come home and face the allegations by defending yourself in a court of law. Don’t leave your family to fight this battle without you. They love and miss you. They want you to know they are your support.” This isn’t denial; it’s defiance against the charges Leslie has branded “untrue” to the Daily Mail. “We trust God to bring truth and clarity in His time,” an earlier statement implored, rebuking “speculation or rumor.” The Turners cling to faith, their homes altars of vigil candles and “Find Coach T” memorabilia, even as Union High scrubs his legacy from its site.

Psychological experts amplify the urgency, deeming Turner’s plight “unprecedented” in its isolation-fueled frenzy. Dr. Elena Vasquez, a UVA forensic psychologist, dissected the risks in a December 4 CNN panel. “Cave confinement is psychological quicksand: sensory deprivation breeds hallucinations, amplified by med withdrawal and charge-induced shame,” she said. “Fear of exposure—drones overhead, hounds baying—triggers hypervigilance; stress hormones spike aggression. He’s a ticking clock: prolonged hiding risks catatonia or lashing out if cornered.” Vasquez draws parallels to the 2010 Peruvian mine standoff, where fugitives in adits succumbed to “cavern madness”—delirium from darkness and dread. Retired NYPD Inspector Paul Mauro, on Fox News, concurred: “Minimal supplies mean foraging fails soon; psychological stress could force a rash move—suicide, surrender, or shootout.” The combo, they warn, is lethal: “Unprecedented for a high-profile local like Turner, whose community ties make betrayal feel omnipresent.”

Appalachia’s schisms deepen with each fruitless dawn. Prayer vigils pack the high school gym, where Sheila Hargrove, a booster mom, clutches a faded Bears jersey: “He was our compass—those boys need him, charges or no.” Yet, online venom festers: X threads (formerly Twitter) buzz with #CoachMonster hashtags, speculating family collusion despite cleared searches. Bailey, now helming the semifinal clash against Glenvar High today, December 6, told reporters post-victory: “Dad taught us resilience—win or lose, we fight clean.” Grayden and Brynlee, shielded from glare, whisper pleas at bedside altars. Wise County Schools, placing Turner on paid leave pre-disappearance, now bars him from campus, fueling the void.

As spelunkers rappel into suspected voids and infrared scans pierce the canopy, the Turners’ message echoes: “We remain prayerful for his safe return.” Is Turner a predator unmasked, plotting in the gloom? A tormented father, weighing redemption? Or a ghost, lost to the caves’ cold embrace? The forest, with its whispering winds and hidden hollows, guards its secrets fiercely. But in this unprecedented crucible of fear and fortitude, one truth endures: the family’s love, a beacon in the black.

Tips? Dial 911, Virginia State Police, or usmarshals.gov/tips. The Bears play on; the hunt presses. Appalachia waits.