Search for Clues Takes New Turn

As the search for missing teen Sebastian Rogers continues, the United Cajun Navy, a nonprofit organization that arranges rescue teams, has joined the effort on Saturday to help find him.

Rogers, 15, disappeared late February from the home he shares with his mother and stepfather in Sumner County, Tennessee. The boy’s stepfather, Chris Proudfoot, was working out of town, and mom Katie Proudfoot said her son wasn’t in his room when she went to wake him up for school on February 26. There had been no sign of a break-in, suggesting he had left of his own accord.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) shared an Amber Alert for the teen, who was described as having “a medical condition that may impair his ability to return safely without assistance.” He was described as 5 feet, 5 inches tall, weighing 120 pounds, wearing glasses and having brown hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing black sweatpants and a black sweatshirt, according to the alert that was issued by the Sumner County Sheriff’s Office.

Since Roger’s disappearance, a search for the teen has been underway, with scent dogs, drones, helicopters, divers and search teams looking for him on foot and on horseback.

However on Saturday, United Cajun Navy announced it has joined the search efforts for Rogers.

“This morning we deployed a search team with K-9 to Sumner County, TN to assist the family of 15 year old Sebastian Rogers. He has been missing for 5 weeks and we have been asked to redirect assets from the #RileyStrain search to help bring Sebastian home,” United Cajun Navy wrote in a Facebook post.

Newsweek has reached out to United Cajun Navy and the Sumner County Sheriff’s Office via email for comment.

The announcement comes after the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) in Tennessee identified missing college student Riley Strain’s body that was found in the Cumberland River on Friday just days after the United Cajun Navy joined the search.

Strain, a 22-year-old University of Missouri student, had been on a trip to Nashville with his fraternity brothers when he disappeared on March 8. Surveillance footage shows him stumbling and struggling to walk in a straight line after he became separated from his friends when he was kicked out of country music star Luke Bryan’s bar, Luke’s 32 Bridge.

On Wednesday, the United Cajun Navy began searching by deploying boats after Strain’s family reached out to them seeking help.

Brian Trascher, vice president of United Cajun Navy, told Newsweek via phone on Wednesday that the first boat was deployed over the weekend and more volunteers were brought in on Tuesday.

“We just deployed a boat with a side scanner w sonar technology…we also have a hover craft…we are trying to find local partners to find drone and thermal scanners to add to the search,” he said at the time.

According to local news station WKRN, following the end of Strain’s search, some took to social media to call on the United Cajun Navy for help in finding Rogers.

TikToker Heather Abbott, under the username @mommatok78 who has 92,000 followers, posted a video sharing the plea for help, “They just found Riley Strain. I want to focus back on Sebastian Rogers. While people are still here. Go to my reposts, share those reposts, tag the Cajun Navy…We have to find that young man.”