The search continues for a missing Charleston man last seen on Friday in Glenville. Gilmer County Sheriff Mickey Metz says right now no one seems to have any idea what happened to 29-year-old Basil "Freddie" Hill.
"We have no signs at this time of any foul play. I do find that speaking with the family, I do believe that this individual would have called home,” the sheriff told MetroNews Wednesday.
Search crews have been focusing on the Little Kanawha River for the past few days. But Metz says they've now pulled back because they've combed that area extensively from the air, from the ground and even a dive team was brought in to search the river.
Now Metz says they're focusing on interviewing anyone who saw Hill the night he disappeared and looking at surveillance footage near the bar where Hill was last seen.
Hill and his co-worker, both contract employees for a gas company, went to a bar after they finished work on Friday. Metz says they've questioned that co-worker about what happened that night.
"They were drinking heavily,” the sheriff said. “They were pretty intoxicated at the time and Basil was asked to leave the bar but the co-worker did not know that at the time."
When the co-worker realized Hill had left Trezan's, Metz says he remained at the bar for a couple more hours. He thought Hill had gone back to the Best Western, where they were staying, with a woman. But that wasn't the case.
Metz says around 1:00 Saturday morning several teenagers stopped and talked to a man they identified as Hill near the courthouse. Hill appeared intoxicated and said he was fine.
Another possible sighting was reported to police Tuesday. Metz says a man traveling down I-79 believes he saw Hill standing in the median around 9 or 9:30 Saturday morning.
"He said the individual looked disoriented, that he was standing in the median, that he wasn't hitch hiking. He was just kind of standing there looking around,” Sheriff Metz said.
The sheriff's department is bringing in the West Virginia State Police to help with their investigation.
Right now Metz says their best hope is to get a tip or some sort of information that will lead them Hill.