Family of Missing High School Football Coach ‘In Distress’ Amid Disappearance

As the manhunt for missing high school football coach Travis Turner enters its second week, his family is pleading for his safe return.

Turner, 46, disappeared on November 20, last seen by family members walking into the woods behind his home while carrying a firearm. 

“If Travis has the ability and is able to respond to his family’s wishes; your wife and children are in distress,” the family’s attorney said in a statement to Us Weekly on Wednesday, December 3. 

The head coach has been married to his wife, Leslie Caudill Turner, since 2001, and the couple share three children: sons Bailey, 25, and Grayden, 21, and daughter Brynlee, 11. 

“Leslie pleads for you to come home and face the allegations by defending yourself in a court of law,” the statement continued. “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.”

Days after he went missing, Travis, the head coach at Union High School in Stone Gap, Virginia, was charged with five counts of child pornography and five counts of using a computer to solicit a minor. 

Throughout Travis’s prolonged disappearance, the Turners’ lawyer said the family “continues to cooperate with law enforcement efforts to locate Travis.”

“Their homes and properties have been searched multiple times, with their consent,” the statement said. “While the family’s last contact with Travis causes them to have great concern for his well-being, they cling to the hope he will be found and afforded the opportunity to defend himself in a court of law.”

Leslie filed a missing persons report with the Virginia State Police on November 21 after Travis failed to return home after entering the woods. Travis was officially listed as an “endangered missing person” on November 22. 

The family’s concerns about Travis’ well-being were “heightened” upon discovery that he had left home without some vitally important items. 

“Travis’ car and keys were left at home.” the statement explained. “Travis wore contact lenses by day and glasses in the evenings. Travis’ contact lens supplies and glasses were left at home. Travis’ wallet, license, cash and all its contents were left in the home. Travis is prescribed certain daily medications which he needs, those were left in the home.”

The family urged, “It is not like Travis to disappear or stay away from home.”

In accordance with the United States Marshals Service joining the search for Travis on the ground in Virginia on Monday, December 1, a $5,000 reward for information about the head coach’s whereabouts was issued. 

The USMS warned that Travis “may be armed” and urged any individual with tips about Turner’s disappearance to call 911 or the Virginia State Police, or visit usmarshals.gov/tips. 

Leslie had previously broken her silence about the allegations against her husband when speaking to the Daily Mail on November 25. 

“None of that is true,” Leslie said at the time. “He’s a good dad and a good husband and we want him home. That’s it.”