TN AMBER Alert: Search for missing Sumner County teen Sebastian Rogers enters Day 7
Click here for the previous day’s coverage of Sebastian Rogers.
HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Hundreds of workers are continuing to search for 15-year-old Sebastian Rogers nearly a week after he was reported missing from his home in Hendersonville.
Ken Weidner, director of Sumner County Emergency Management Agency (EMA), spoke with News 2 on Sunday, March 3 to provide an update on search efforts, and said specialized groups are assisting in the search for the missing 15-year-old.
Facebook page helps feed first responders searching for Sebastian Rogers
“Yesterday, we had a group from East Tennessee come in and they’re mountainous experts and they do caves,” said Weidner. “So, any cave that we’ve marked, we’ve had them in those caves.”
According to Weidner, crews have covered at least five miles of ground so far as the search for Sebastian continues to expand.
Some of the areas that have been covered include the city of Hendersonville, rural areas of Hendersonville, caves, storm drains and the lake.
(Photo: WKRN) (Photo: WKRN) (Photo: WKRN) (Photo: WKRN) (Photo: WKRN)
As the search for Sebastian wraps up its first week, Weidner said individuals across the state are becoming more eager to assist. News 2 even saw members of the Tennessee National Guard going to door to door, trying to raise awareness and asking people if they’ve seen anything.
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“One thing about Tennessee and the Southeast is that we’re always going to have people that want to help, and we’ve gotten calls from people across the state for people who want to come in and help us,” Weidner told News 2. “The thing we got to do is be able to manage that. So, we track everybody that’s on the ground. The first two days we did 2,000 miles of people walking and we haven’t run those numbers for the entire duration of this operation, but it’s great to be able to call in specialized groups that do the things we can’t do. It’s really good.”
The Sumner County Fire Buffs nonprofit helped keep crews going Sunday, offering sustenance throughout the day.
“We like to try to do every two hours of a hot meal because you just never know when they’re going to be coming back in and then going back out again,” said Amy DeFreitas, finance director of the Sumner County Fire Buffs. “We just need to make sure that they are able to sustain while they’re out in conditions that aren’t just walking down the road; they’re out in the woods, they’re out in the creeks, some have been in caves, so you just want to make sure that they’re ready to go out there for that.”
DeFreitas thanked Eat Hendersonville and Live Love Nashville for helping put out the call for food donations. Meals and snacks poured into the Shackle Island Fire Department throughout the day Sunday.
TBI issues Endangered Child Alert for 7-year-old out of Rutherford County
Area resident Elizabeth Young said neighbors continue to do what they can to check their properties and look for Sebastian.
“We’re looking at all the cameras, we’re constantly searching. In our property, we have a new addition on the back of the house; we’re searching there every day. I know the neighbors are; everybody’s kind of walking up and down the streets, looking everywhere we can,” Young said. “It’s extremely sad. I don’t know the family, but I know that everybody’s working together and trying to locate anything they can find about him.”
On Saturday, March 2, the Sumner County Sheriff’s Office said people could aid in the search by reviewing security cameras and focus on the afternoon of Sunday, Feb. 25 through the morning of Monday, Feb. 26.
If you see any movements, vehicles, or individuals in that footage, you are asked to register online and send an email to bcarter@sumnersheriff.com, or call (615) 442-1865 so law enforcement can physically retrieve the footage.
The sheriff’s office told News 2 that an anonymous group of business owners in the Nashville area has pledged a minimum cash reward of $3,500 for information that helps investigators find Sebastian.
No other information was immediately released.
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Sebastian Wayne Drake Rogers, 15, was reported missing on Monday, Feb. 26 from the Beech area in Hendersonville.
Sebastian Rogers: Description
Sebastian is 5 feet, 5 inches tall, 120 pounds with dirty blond hair. He was last seen on Monday, Feb. 26 near Stafford Court wearing a black sweatshirt and black sweatpants, said the TBI.
AMBER Alert Issued
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) originally issued an Endangered Child Alert for Sebastian on the morning of Feb. 26 as multiple agencies took to the area to look for him.
Based on additional investigative information developed during the search, the TBI issued an AMBER Alert for Sebastian on the afternoon of Feb. 27. An AMBER Alert is issued when there is reasonable belief by law enforcement that an abduction has occurred and the child is in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death, per the DOJ.
Multiple agencies including the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Tennessee Highway Patrol, Nashville Fire Department, City of Hendersonville’s first responders, Sumner County Sheriff’s Office and Shackle Island Volunteer Fire have assisted in the search for Sebastian.
Who to Contact
If you have seen Sebastian or have info about his whereabouts, call the Sumner County Sheriff’s Office at (615) 451-3838 or TBI at 1-800-TBI-FIND.
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This is a developing story. WKRN News 2 will continue to update this article as new information becomes available.
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