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A former FBI agent has claimed that missing high school football coach and alleged pedophile Travis Turner could still be alive, nearly two months after fleeing his home in Virginia.
Married father-of-three Turner, 46, went on the run days before it emerged police wanted him for 10 alleged child sex offences. They were on the way to his house when he ran away and he was last seen heading into the Appalachian woods, carrying a firearm. Since then, there have been no sightings of him.
It came at a time when Turner’s Union High School football team were enjoying an unbeaten season, leaving Turner as somewhat of a local hero in the town of Big Stone Gap, Virginia.
Soon after, Virginia State Police requested help from the US Marshals in trying to track Hunter down.
And according to former FBI agent Jennifer Doebler – who previously worked at the Crimes Against Children/Child Pornography Team in the FBI Newark, New Jersey office – that is an indication authorities are working to find Turner on the assumption that he is still alive.
She told The Sun: ‘What I can tell in the news, they haven’t expanded their search area, but they also haven’t called off the US Marshals. The US Marshals don’t look for a deceased person.
A massive search effort is ongoing for Travis Turner, wanted on child sex charges
Turner, a married father of three and a high school football coach, pictured with wife Leslie
‘So, US Marshals have not officially stepped out, which means they cannot rule out that he sheltered in place or somehow made it to another location.’
As a result, Doebler believes police will maintain contact with Turner’s family in the belief that he will eventually reach out to them.
‘I would say they’re probably keeping in very close contact with Turner’s immediate family,’ she added.
‘The reason for that is two reasons: to continue to communicate with them and ask them questions about where Turner could possibly be, but it’s also to see if Turner reached out.
‘In my opinion, if Turner is still alive, and if Turner was able to make it to another location, there will very likely come a time where he will try to reach out to his wife and children.’
Five days after Turner went missing, his wife Leslie insisted that the allegations made against him were false.
Speaking exclusively to Daily Mail, she said: ‘None of that is true. He’s a good dad and a good husband and we want him home. That’s it.’
Turner’s family attorney later revealed how he left his car, keys, contact lens supplies, glasses, prescription daily medication and wallet – with his license and all of his cash inside – at the house at the time of his disappearance.
Turner, pictured with his wife and family, was head football coach and physical education teacher at Union Gap High School in Stone Gap, Virginia
‘It is not like Travis to disappear or stay away from home,’ lawyer Adrian Collins told the Daily Mail as he explained why Turner’s wife, Leslie, grew concerned and reported him missing to the Virginia State Police.
He added that Leslie ‘was not helping him escape’ and was simply ‘asking for help to find him.’
‘Criminal charges were not obtained against Travis until days after he failed to return home,’ the lawyer noted. ‘He was not a fugitive wanted by law enforcement at the time he went missing.’
