Twiggs Co. Missing Persons Found, Stranded By Flood Waters

TWIGGS CO., Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – According to the Twiggs Co. Sheriff’s Office, it took a helicopter to find three missing people Sunday.

The Georgia State Patrol Aviation Unit helicopter found John Thomas Rauser, 32,  Devan Smith, 19,  and Carrie Glass, 34, huddled around a fire Sunday night, trapped by the flooding waters of the Ocmulgee River.

The three had crossed the river in order to steal a set of four-wheelers from a cabin.

The Sheriff’s Office responded to a possible missing persons call Sunday just before 8 p.m. at a boat landing on River Road.

Deputies met with Rusty Smith, who told them he had taken the trio across the Ocmulgee, but would not take part in the theft.

He left the area after dropping them off.

The Sheriff’s Office began the search, enlisting the help of both the GSP Aviation Unit and the Ga. Department of Natural Resources.

Across the river, deputies found the cabin broken into, and the property stolen.

Deputies began searching around the flooded waters.

The GSP helicopter found a light source about a mile down river from the cabin.

The missing persons were huddled around a fire, stranded by the flood waters.

Deputies then arrested the trio.

The cabin across from the boat landing is actually in Houston County; the Houston County Sheriff’s Office responded and took the subjects into custody.

Rauser and Smith had prior warrants for arrest.

Sheriff Mitchum of Twiggs County would like to thank all the units and people concerned in this rescue and the arrests of these subjects.