Crews searching for missing hunters remain focused, committed

Published 5:09 pm Saturday, December 12, 2020

The search for two missing hunters on the Mississippi River is now covering an area from north of LeTourneau Landing in Vicksburg south to Natchez.

The search that began Dec. 3, is now stretching further into a second week. Despite the use of dozens of search teams on land and on water and a variety of aircraft, including drones and aircraft with thermal imaging, the two hunters — Zeb Hughes, 21, from Wesson, and 16-year-old Gunner Palmer, of Brookhaven — remain missing.

“We have not even discussed terminating the search,” Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said late Saturday. “It has not even been a topic of discussion.”

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Pace, who joined deputies from the Warren County Sheriff’s Office and crews from the Mississippi Department of Wildlife and Fisheries on the water Saturday, said the search is now focused solely on the water, with crews launching from LeTourneau, Port Gibson and Natchez.

Saturday’s search began at 10 a.m., delayed by heavy fog along the river. The search was expected to resume Sunday morning.

Pace said that weather permitting, the search would again include aircraft over the targeted area in the “next day or two.”

The search began late Dec. 3, after Hughes and Palmer failed to return from a planned duck hunting trip along the Mississippi River. The pair had put in at LeTourneau Landing earlier that day.

Searchers put out on the river that day. The pair’s boat was found the following day, and searchers found items belonging to the hunters in the days following. The two remained missing.

About Tim Reeves

Tim Reeves, and his wife Stephanie, are the parents of three children, Sarah Cameron, Clayton and Fin, who all attend school in the Vicksburg Warren School District. The family are members of First Baptist Church Vicksburg. Tim is involved in a number of civic and volunteer organizations including the United Way of West Central Mississippi and serves on the City of Vicksburg's Riverfront Redevelopment Committee.

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