3/27/17 @ 8:05 a.m.
Investigators and volunteers are continuing the search for a Vanceburg man that hasn't been seen or heard from since Thursday evening.
LEWIS COUNTY, Ky (WSAZ) --Lewis County Sheriff Johnny Bivens says Justin Johnson, 28, was last seen about 8:00 p.m. Thursday at his home on Town Branch in Vanceburg.
Johnson's red Chevrolet S-10 pick-up was found on Lower Twin Branch off McDowell Creek Road, south of Garrison, about 7:30 a.m. Friday.
Bivens said his office was contacted Friday by concerned family members after Johnson failed to return home when he said he would on Thursday night.
Johnson's fiancée, Nichole Gilliam, says Johnson had told her Thursday evening as he was leaving their home that he would return shortly.
"He kissed me and the baby before he left and said he would be back," she said. Gilliam and Johnson have a one-year-old son.
She added that Johnson acted like nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
"This baby is his world," she said. Gilliam says she believes Johnson would not voluntarily disappear and not try to make contact with them.
Members of the Kentucky Search Dog Association spent most of the day Sunday with search dogs in the area where Johnson's pick-up was found.
[...]
Johnson is 6'2" tall, 145 pounds with a slender build. He has short brown hair and hadn't shaved for a few days.
He was last seen wearing a black tee-shirt, light blue jeans, dark brown work boots, a camo cap and had a black jacket with him.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3/27/17 4:45 p.m.
What started over the weekend as a deep woods search for a missing man is now a possible abduction and a criminal investigation.
[...]
The father said his son would not just leave his truck abandoned far from home out Lower Twin Branch Road, and wander into the woods.
Ever since that truck was found Friday night, hundreds have combed miles of Lewis County, KY hills and hollows.
County sheriff Johnny Bivins told us that his relationship with the Johnson family and new evidence discovered Monday turned a missing person search into a criminal case.
Sheriff Bivins said, "I know Mr., Johnson well and I think he would have put 100 percent effort into removing that truck and there are no signs that had happened."
Everyone seemed to know what that truck means to Justin. It belonged to his late brother Jackie Johnson III, just killed in a February motorcycle crash.
Sheriff Bivins told us he's now gathering phone records of people who Justin Johnson talked to before he went missing.
When asked about a possible motive for a possible crime, Bivins said, "That's what we're going to find out today. We're going to see them and hopefully, they are up front.
If not, we will make a trip to the sheriff's office and have a closed door interview."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3/27/17 6 p.m.
Deputies are targeting people who may know something about Justin Johnson's disappearance.
Bivens says the sheriff's office plans to speak with those people Monday night. Deputies have questioned some acquaintances before Monday night, but no one could provide information about Johnson's whereabouts.
"I'm not very happy with the close friends that he has, the very close friends he was running with days up to this," Bivens told WSAZ. "You know, you look around and I don't see them, and that aggravates me."
[...]
"I don't know. We may be looking in the wrong area. There's places I'd rather be looking than here," Bivens said. "Knowing Mr. Johnson, it seems the truck very well may have been placed there intentionally."
[...]
It's also becoming increasingly difficult for Johnson's family, who already lost a son weeks ago.
"All we want to find him, no matter what the situation is," Carol Heddleston, Johnson's mom said. "If he's sick, he's hurt, he's dead ... I just want to know. I've got to have closure. My other son just died a month ago and I just really can't do this again ... I really need him back, I really do."
"I'm just like terrified because I don't know ... there's something wrong. Justin's a really responsible boy. He's got a 1-year-old baby, he wouldn't have just took off and left him," Heddleston said. "We just know that there's something wrong."
