HEMPHILL, Texas. (KTAL/KMSS) — Authorities recovered the body of a Kentucky man Friday morning from Toledo Bend Reservoir, ending a three-day search that began after he was reported missing Wednesday night, according to a news release from the Sabine County Sheriff’s Office.
The body of Peyton Hughes, 21, of Springfield, Kentucky, was recovered near the Alpine Marina, the sheriff’s office said in the news release. Hughes was reported missing at about 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 24, by his fishing coach while he was pre-fishing for the Newport Bassmaster Kayak Series. He was a member of Campbellsville University’s fishing team.
Deputies and volunteer crews responded Wednesday night. Hughes’ kayak was later found beached on an island several hundred yards east of the Alpine Marina boat launch in an area locals call Alligator Cove, and searchers recovered his baseball cap. The search was suspended after midnight, according to the news release.
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Searches resumed before daylight Thursday with additional help from Sabine Parish marine and dive teams, Texas Parks and Wildlife game wardens, local dive teams, and representatives from Eye in the Sky Recovery, a local search-and-recovery firm. A flip-flop believed to belong to Hughes was recovered late Thursday, but further searches that day turned up no sign of him.
Friday, agencies, including the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office and volunteer groups, staged at the Alpine Marina and resumed pre-dawn operations. At about 7:30 a.m., a dive team with the Sabine Parish Sheriff’s Office reported finding a body roughly 200 yards north of the earlier kayak recovery site. The body, once recovered, matched the description of Hughes, authorities said in the news release.
The Justice of the Peace for Precinct 1 was called to the scene and ordered an autopsy. The body was transported to Forensic Medical of Texas in Beaumont.
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