http://www.tiftongazette.com/local/local_story_250222450.html?start:int=15GBI takes over search for missing Lowndes manPublished September 07, 2009
Jessica Pope
The Valdosta Daily Times
VALDOSTA —
The search continues for a Lowndes County man who has been missing for five weeks. When asked for an update on the search for Keith Allen Rocheleau, the Brooks County Sheriff’s Office reported that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is now in charge of the case.
Agents were called in roughly one week ago, sheriff’s office deputies and investigators having exhausted all means possible to locate the father of three. Keith Allen Rocheleau, according to reports, was reported missing to the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office on Friday, Aug. 7. He was last seen by John and Rose Rocheleau, his parents, on Tuesday, Aug. 4, at his home on Barrett Lane in Lowndes County. They had asked him to watch their house and take care of their dog while they went out of town for a few days.
Sometime between that Tuesday and that Friday, Rocheleau got his truck stuck in a ditch just down the road from his parents’ house.
Authorities said that there is evidence that he attempted to free his truck using his father’s truck without success. His father’s truck was found quite a distance down the road, traveling away from the house.
Keith Allen Rocheleau’s mother and father found both trucks abandoned when they returned home. His hat was in a flower bed. His cellular phone was in the yard. His glasses were found at the edge of their property line near the woods. A steak was on the kitchen counter, having been left out for days. The back door was open, but nothing was missing. The dog was fine.
Keith Allen Rocheleau was nowhere to be found.
Brooks County Sheriff Mike Dewey, in a previous interview with The Times, shared, “We have spent several hours searching the area in a helicopter. We have had blood hounds in the area three times. The first time was the weekend right after he disappeared. They did not find anything.”
Brooks County authorities have said that they do not believe that Keith Allen Rocheleau is near his parents’ property in the Riverbend Plantation area, which reportedly covers 8,000 or so acres. If he was dead in the woods, there would have been some obvious signs, like buzzards flying around, they said.
“There is no evidence of foul play” in the Cooey Road area, authorities noted.
Of course, they were quick to add that this lack of evidence does not mean that Rocheleau is OK. He could have accepted a ride from the wrong person. No one knows. They can only speculate.
It seems that asking questions only leads to more questions, not answers.
On Wednesday, Aug. 26, some three dozen men and women gathered to search for answers in the Keith Allen Rocheleau case.
However, by the end of the day, all everyone was left with were more questions, the most important one being, Where is Keith Allen Rocheleau?
Organized by Pam Mathis and Chris Roland, the last-minute citizen investigation was an attempt to give the family of Keith Allen Rocheleau, 47, some peace of mind. The father of three sons and friend of many had — at the time — not been seen in just over three weeks.
“I am just a concerned citizen,” said Mathis, who works for Century 21 Winnersville Inc. “I learned about the case and simply wanted to do something to help this family.”
Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Keith Allen Rocheleau is encouraged to call the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office at (229) 671-2950 or the Brooks County Sheriff’s Office at 263-7558.
