DANVILLE, W.Va. — The search for a missing autistic Boone County man continues on after he went missing on Tuesday.
24-year-old Alexander Shear disappeared early on Tuesday morning in the town of Danville. A witness reported to police they believe they saw him in the Low Gap area that evening. Ever since, there’s been no trace of Shear. A multi-agency effort, spearheaded by the Boone County Sheriff’s Office, has been launched with the hope of finding the missing Shear.
Boone County Sheriff Chad Barker said Friday on MetroNews “Midday” that the search has included two separate helicopters, several drones, more than 10 canines, Swiftwater rescue teams, state police’s Disaster Response Team, underwater drones, dive teams, and more. People have helped from as far as Ohio County in West Virginia and in northern Kentucky. None of the searches have found Shear yet.
“We just need a little bit of luck,” Barker said. “We want to bring this young man home safe.”
Shear has brown hair and a brown beard. He’s 5-foot-6 and 180 pounds and didn’t have a phone on him when he went missing. Barker said law enforcement is concerned about Shear’s safety. He said there’s been little information about where Shear disappeared to.
“It’s not a whole lot, and that’s the problem,” Barker said. “We haven’t had a whole lot of success. We’re asking people of the public to re-check their cameras to try to look, especially if you live along that route, from Danville; Price Branch Road, up to Low Gap on Route 17. Anyone who lives along that route, if they could check their cameras from early Tuesday morning up until Tuesday evening.”
Shear’s mother, Kelly Backer, has been in consistent contact each day with law enforcement, Barker said. He added that Boone County has undergone severe weather since Shear disappeared from his Danville home.
“On Tuesday morning, it was raining a pretty steady rain,” Barker said. “But then on Wednesday evening, we got hammered. Certain areas of our county flooded, we had those issues to deal with, but just ready steady and strong rains through Wednesday evening and Wednesday night. The elements haven’t really been in our favor throughout this as well.”
Not only was there a significant amount of rain, but the evening temperatures became even colder.
“The temperatures have dropped, especially overnight temperatures,” Barker said. “Even during the summertime, if you get wet through the rain; overnight, you’re going to cool down. That’s particularly concerning. We’re 72 hours into this, or a little bit longer, so we’re very, very concerned about Alex.”
Shear and his family were “fairly new” to the area, Barker reported.
“Alex didn’t get out much, he doesn’t have many friends in the community,” Barker said. “He’s just home. He has a family, obviously, that loves him and cares about him. They did walk a little bit as a family in town, so people could recognize him, but as far as being a person that’s familiar with a lot of people in the community; that’s not the case here.”
Barker said there was a briefing room on Friday morning, completely full of people for the second consecutive day. He called the response from the community “overwhelming” in the search for Shear.
“We’ve been beating the pavement looking for this young man, and we’ve pulled out all the stops and resources,” Barker said. “Literally from all over the state, there’s so many people that are helping us. Anything from helicopters to boats to divers to manpower; it’s just on and on, with canine volunteers and canine officers.”
Barker pleaded with residents from Danville to Low Gap to check their cameras for any sign of where Shear could have gone. Additionally, he asked residents to check around their properties.
“If you can check structures on your property, ditch lines, culverts, wooded areas, anywhere that would be on your property,” Barker said. “Any water sources. Any folks that hear this, they can check they cameras; just check your own property and see if you have any luck. Those cameras are vital to us to try to help nail down our timeframe and our timeline a little bit.”
Barker said if you think you’ve seen Shear over the last three days, call 911 or the non-emergency number to pass information along. He reported that they’ve received lots of tips so far. He noted that “you never know” when the right information will come along.