Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. It is Sunday, November thirtieth, and their
Speaker 1: coach went from being a missing man to a wanted fugitive.
Speaker 1: But this undefeated high school football team just keeps on winning.
Speaker 1: And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Robes.
Speaker 1: We don't make a habit of following the class to
Speaker 1: high school Virginia playoffs, but we had our screen up yesterday,
Speaker 1: refreshing and refreshing keeping an eye on a high school
Speaker 1: football game yesterday for the wildest of reasons and tragic reasons.
Speaker 2: Even yes Union High School versus Ridgefield High School correct
Speaker 2: Ridgeview High School, and this was the semi finals there
Speaker 2: in Virginia. And of note, of course Union High School
Speaker 2: has been not just in the national news, but in
Speaker 2: the international news because it's high school football coach since
Speaker 2: twenty eleven, went missing just two days before one of
Speaker 2: their big It was a qualifying final, and they initially
Speaker 2: said he wasn't wanted, They didn't have any warrant for
Speaker 2: his arrest, They just wanted to talk to him about
Speaker 2: a complaint. But sure enough, a few days later, it
Speaker 2: turns out he is now wanted on ten counts, five
Speaker 2: of them for child pornography charges. The other five for
Speaker 2: using a computer to solicit a minor. These are serious,
Speaker 2: significant charges, and we're now hearing confirmation about where this coach,
Speaker 2: Travis Turner, was last seen and what he was seen with.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, well, folks, the story was I mean
Speaker 1: it was of concern initially there was a missing high
Speaker 1: school football coach. And look a lot of the headlines
Speaker 1: said coach of the undefeated high school team. That was
Speaker 1: a part of intrigue and getting people to click. Quite frankly,
Speaker 1: this high school team is doing well. They played the
Speaker 1: first playoff game. He was still missing, but not a
Speaker 1: fugitive at that point, and they won. That's hard enough.
Speaker 1: Your coach is missing, you don't know what's going on.
Speaker 1: But this game they played yesterday, folks, had to be
Speaker 1: played with the understanding that the past several days that
Speaker 1: the coach, the guy they trusted, the guy that parents
Speaker 1: sent their kids to, who has been, no doubt, a
Speaker 1: leader and maybe even a father figure to these kids.
Speaker 1: Those kids went out on a field yesterday, folks, played
Speaker 1: a football game and won. Those kids went out there
Speaker 1: and did that. I we grew up in high school
Speaker 1: and where high school football was King right in the South.
Speaker 1: This brings a community nothing on a small community. Rallies
Speaker 1: people more than your high school football team, and if
Speaker 1: they're doing well, they are heroes en roods. I read
Speaker 1: through how the community reacted and how they came together
Speaker 1: and how they cheered those kids on at that game
Speaker 1: last night, and it's just it was the yesterday afternoon.
Speaker 1: But we kept our eye on it the whole time.
Speaker 1: You and me watching a Class two A playoff game,
Speaker 1: we were.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we were imagining what it was like for those
Speaker 2: young men because this is, like you pointed out, this
Speaker 2: was I'm sure this man, Travis Turner, was like a
Speaker 2: father figure to them. Now you have rumors that he
Speaker 2: was into child porn, that he was soliciting a minor.
Speaker 2: Can you imagine the rumors, the finger pointing, and certainly
Speaker 2: the questions that authorities would have for members of that team.
Speaker 2: Because we should point out there have been no specifics.
Speaker 2: We don't know if he is being accused of engaging
Speaker 2: in any sort of illegal or improper activity with any
Speaker 2: one of his students or any one of his football players.
Speaker 2: But certainly the spotlight has to turn to the kids
Speaker 2: who knew him best, who were with him day in
Speaker 2: and day out, and certainly they have been questioned by police,
Speaker 2: by their parents, by their friends, did you know, did
Speaker 2: you see any signs? Did you have any untoward experiences
Speaker 2: with him? So all of that is circling around in
Speaker 2: your head. And you know you played professional high school
Speaker 2: ioley professional but high level high school sports where your
Speaker 2: mental game is just as important as your physical one.
Speaker 2: So to be completely taken out of the game in
Speaker 2: that way, because think about that is the worst of
Speaker 2: the worst in terms of accusations and questions, and just
Speaker 2: that throws you beyond anything you can imagine.
Speaker 1: The accusations we're talking about are these types of things
Speaker 1: are horrific. When you talk about the rumor type thing, though,
Speaker 1: imagine what everybody's asking a question, every kid in every class,
Speaker 1: every time the teachers go to the lounge, everything, And
Speaker 1: this is now a criminal it's going to be a
Speaker 1: legal it's going to possibly be a lawsuit involved. So
Speaker 1: this community is just shaking. What brings them all together?
Speaker 1: Right now? Our high school football team is undefeated and
Speaker 1: they're playing tonight. That's the only thing, right So I
Speaker 1: am this story and we're hopes every single tragedy we've
Speaker 1: ever seen. There's beauty you find in it. You've been
Speaker 1: on scenes school shootings and you find the most beautiful
Speaker 1: thing that reminds you about us all and humanity, and
Speaker 1: this is beautiful. I didn't tell you we could have
Speaker 1: watched the game, but we had to sign up for
Speaker 1: a subscription online.
Speaker 2: And I knew you weren't going to do that.
Speaker 1: It would have been an annual subscription to watch one game, right,
Speaker 1: that's the only reason. But now they're playing again next
Speaker 1: week and we might have to get this.
Speaker 2: Well, my dogs are playing next weekend too, so that
Speaker 2: might be a tough. But this is one of those stories.
Speaker 2: We love football and we know how important it is
Speaker 2: to a community like this. This is, and we've talked
Speaker 2: about this a little bit, but this is in the
Speaker 2: Tri city area of Virginia. It's right there on the
Speaker 2: corner where you've got. It's a rural community, Appalachia, Virginia,
Speaker 2: a town of two thousand, and this coach was a
Speaker 2: hometown hero. He had been a high.
Speaker 1: School football star.
Speaker 2: His father had been a high school football coach and
Speaker 2: a high school and college football star. So these and
Speaker 2: specifically this coach was godlike. I'm sure to the not
Speaker 2: just the boys on the field, but all the people
Speaker 2: who are the parents and the friends and the supporters
Speaker 2: of this high school football team. So to have this
Speaker 2: spotlight not on necessarily their undefeated season, but unfortunately on
Speaker 2: what their coach is now accused of and the fact
Speaker 2: that he's still missing, The fact that they don't know
Speaker 2: where he is, the fact that there is an active
Speaker 2: manhunt going on in that community has to be just
Speaker 2: adding to the already it's already a tense situation when
Speaker 2: you're trying to win a game and you want to
Speaker 2: and you're trying to get to the finals, but now
Speaker 2: you've got a man hunt for your coach going on
Speaker 2: right around you.
Speaker 1: This has been going on now here. We are the
Speaker 1: I mean, he's been gone and missing for ten days,
Speaker 1: its family said. The last known contact with him was
Speaker 1: on November the twentieth. Now, if look, we know the
Speaker 1: season it is right now, we're heading into this cold season,
Speaker 1: and this just happened to be this past week, certainly
Speaker 1: around the holidays, pretty brutal weather. You cannot you cannot
Speaker 1: survive out in where he walked out into in this
Speaker 1: area without food, without shelter, and he walked out, they say,
Speaker 1: just wearing a sweatsuit.
Speaker 2: I believe that, yes, it was a gray sweatpants and
Speaker 2: a gray hoodie and that was what he had on him.
Speaker 2: It was a little bit warmer when he actually went
Speaker 2: missing on November twentieth, and the weather has certainly taken
Speaker 2: a nose dive since then.
Speaker 1: So his family said, when he went missing, of course
Speaker 1: we talked about this. There were no warrants or anything
Speaker 1: for his arrest at the time. But they say this
Speaker 1: is from the attorney that when Travis did not return
Speaker 1: home that evening of the twentieth, his wife notify local
Speaker 1: law enforcement that she couldn't do a missing person's report
Speaker 1: ropes for twenty four hours. Lea, I've heard this before,
Speaker 1: then quote the following day, she followed a missing person
Speaker 1: report with the Virginia State Police. The family has cooperated
Speaker 1: fully with law enforcement in their ongoing efforts to locate
Speaker 1: family members and friends have also conducted search efforts in
Speaker 1: the surrounding woods. These efforts have been limited by weather
Speaker 1: conditions and with respect for the official operations underway. They
Speaker 1: did say at the top it was one of the
Speaker 1: first lines ropes from this attorney is that he left
Speaker 1: his residence to walk into the woods with a fire arm,
Speaker 1: is what the attorney is saying. I think when we
Speaker 1: first saw this story, it started hearing about it. That
Speaker 1: was the first thing. We didn't know anything about charges.
Speaker 1: But while there's concern they have, they sound like they're
Speaker 1: concerned for his safety, and we had no idea that
Speaker 1: they were searching for him because of any investigation of
Speaker 1: any account.
Speaker 2: For the first few days, his wife did put a
Speaker 2: few things out on social media that she since deleted,
Speaker 2: but they all were basically saying, we want you to
Speaker 2: come home, Travis. We love you, we support you, we
Speaker 2: don't believe these allegations. Please come home. All we want
Speaker 2: is your safe return. And certainly that has been the
Speaker 2: sentiment from the beginning. And just I looked through her
Speaker 2: social media, this was a woman who was all about
Speaker 2: football with her children, with her husband. This was a
Speaker 2: football family and it's just heartbreaking to imagine what Thanksgiving
Speaker 2: was like for them again with all the rumors, all
Speaker 2: the speculation, but most importantly, they don't know where their
Speaker 2: husband and father is right now. And to say he
Speaker 2: was seen left with leaving with a firearm, not properly clothed,
Speaker 2: walking into the woods in a heavily mountainous area. So
Speaker 2: if you're not familiar with the area Appalacha, Virginia, you
Speaker 2: are right there, the Appalachian Mountains. It is gorgeous, beautiful scenery,
Speaker 2: but it is rugged, it is vast. And speaking to that,
Speaker 2: they have been searching for him for ten days, with drones,
Speaker 2: with canine units, with search and rescue teams. And you
Speaker 2: just heard TJ. Yes, friends and family going out and
Speaker 2: trying to find him, and so far to no avail.
Speaker 1: So what is next exactly for this community, for this school,
Speaker 1: for those kids. Stay here. We'll tell you why. The
Speaker 1: next this upcoming week is going to be another difficult
Speaker 1: one for them, with the potential for another great and
Speaker 1: resilient victory. Stay here, all right, folks, Well continue on
Speaker 1: this Sunday with the concern, yes, initially for a missing coach,
Speaker 1: the concern now for his kids and the community he's
Speaker 1: left behind in the wake of some pretty devastating accusations.
Speaker 1: Now he is facing He is a ten time I
Speaker 1: guess wanted felon. He has ten felony charges against him
Speaker 1: right now and they are trying to track him down.
Speaker 1: But first and foremost, I mean, no matter what. He's
Speaker 1: innocent to a proven guilty, he's allowed to and we
Speaker 1: should presume that. But the concern right now has to
Speaker 1: be about his safety. And they're trying to get this
Speaker 1: man back somewhere safe and alive. Can deal with the rest,
Speaker 1: but that has to be the priority. Brogue is not
Speaker 1: looking good given the conditions given, I mean the conclusion
Speaker 1: anybody or where you would sum up where his head
Speaker 1: might be if he's walking into the woods in the
Speaker 1: winter with a firearm and is just wearing.
Speaker 2: A hoodie, correct and has not been seen since. And
Speaker 2: this is somebody who is incredibly familiar to everyone in
Speaker 2: that town and the surrounding communities. Obviously, I'm sure if
Speaker 2: you've been following the story, you know what he looks like.
Speaker 2: He's six foot three, a big guy, well over two
Speaker 2: hundred pounds. So this is somebody who doesn't just disappear
Speaker 2: without being noticed. And so that's the concern that how
Speaker 2: would he have been not only sheltering himself, keeping himself
Speaker 2: out of the elements, but feeding himself all of those things.
Speaker 2: He hasn't been spotted or sighted anywhere picking up food
Speaker 2: or water, So that is the main concern. But at
Speaker 2: the same time, authorities, I'm sure are also conducting their
Speaker 2: investigation into what happened and the scope of what may
Speaker 2: have happened. And yes, he is innocent until proven guilty.
Speaker 2: But as these things go, typically there isn't just one victim.
Speaker 2: So I'm sure if that is the case, whoever brought
Speaker 2: this initial complaint police are doing that due diligence as
Speaker 2: well behind the scenes, continuing that investigation. This has to
Speaker 2: just be so incredibly disruptive and scary and all of
Speaker 2: these things to this family.
Speaker 1: What was okay? The charges, none of them are actually
Speaker 1: that have to do with an actual sexual assault. Now
Speaker 1: I'm not saying this is okay, but you have it
Speaker 1: in front of you, I know, solicitation using a computer
Speaker 1: to solicit a minor, yes, and then what was.
Speaker 2: The other It was five yes, five counts of using
Speaker 2: a computer to solicit a minor and five counts of
Speaker 2: possession of child pornography.
Speaker 1: Okay, Now now we got an issue. Did it come
Speaker 1: from somewhere else? This is something that he created, right,
Speaker 1: So now it's possibility, yes, if there is child pornography,
Speaker 1: that child is a victim, whoever that is. But it's
Speaker 1: still a matter of what was his involvement?
Speaker 2: Correct?
Speaker 1: So are there victims of his in that town? Is
Speaker 1: what everybody in that town is asked.
Speaker 2: Yes, and certainly those the kids who knew him best
Speaker 2: and the students he had direct access to, will certainly
Speaker 2: be questioned by authorities and by their parents. I mean, look,
Speaker 2: if you that was your child, you would say, tell
Speaker 2: me everything. Did Coach Tall ever talk to you, you know,
Speaker 2: in an uncomfortable manner? Did he ever touch you in
Speaker 2: an uncomfortable All of these kids are being asked these questions,
Speaker 2: no doubt, at least by their parents and almost certainly
Speaker 2: by authorities as well. It was interesting the local affiliate,
Speaker 2: they're one of the local local affiliates, got to talk
Speaker 2: to some of the football players after their big victory,
Speaker 2: and I loved what the senior running back did you
Speaker 2: see this? Said? He said, we talked in the huddle
Speaker 2: and we said, listen, boys, we're going to have to
Speaker 2: handle adversity here. We stick together as brothers here, and
Speaker 2: we should come out with the victory. So you know,
Speaker 2: you we've talked about this, but when you've got something
Speaker 2: this awful happening to this community, it's happening to all
Speaker 2: of them. At the same time and in a certain way,
Speaker 2: you can understand how that would bring this team even
Speaker 2: closer together. It would make them have something worth fighting for,
Speaker 2: perhaps even larger than themselves. And they're fighting for their community.
Speaker 2: They're fighting for the name of their high school. They're
Speaker 2: fighting to reclaim what they've accomplished and not let it
Speaker 2: be tainted or soured by this other awful news that
Speaker 2: now has put their town and their football program in
Speaker 2: the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
Speaker 1: For some reason, it makes the victory more beautiful. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: I would not have known about the Union High School
Speaker 1: Bears undefeated season had this not happened. Obviously, we don't
Speaker 1: want this to happen, but there's something about now they
Speaker 1: take the opportunity to reclaim a reputation or also show
Speaker 1: who they really are. We're not just this one thing
Speaker 1: or this is and I think athletics college certainly, but
Speaker 1: even creeps down into high school. We talk about nil
Speaker 1: it's just big time. Athletics is just big time, and
Speaker 1: now high school kids have access to trainers and all
Speaker 1: kinds of equipment and technology. There's just other level. There's
Speaker 1: no way we in high school, any of us had
Speaker 1: that type of training, so it gets to be big
Speaker 1: time and these are big time dudes now in an
Speaker 1: undefeated season in the playoffs. But I had to stop
Speaker 1: myself and remember, these are children. I had to stop
Speaker 1: and think about that. Yeah, these are fifteen, sixteen, seventeen,
Speaker 1: eighteen year old, but these are children dealing with this.
Speaker 1: And I had to put a sign for a second
Speaker 1: that these are tough football player. Let's get out here
Speaker 1: and do these are kids. These are children. They are
Speaker 1: impacted in a way that only children can be impacted.
Speaker 1: So with that, it became even more impressive to me
Speaker 1: that they were able to do what they did.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because there is a sense of Look again, Travis
Speaker 2: Turner has not been convicted of any crime, but just
Speaker 2: the accusations alone, I can speak from some bit of
Speaker 2: experience that you I imagine there's some feeling of betrayal
Speaker 2: and some feeling of distrust of everyone and anything. And
Speaker 2: when you're that young, you don't have the perspective that
Speaker 2: these things happen, and it maybe isn't personal, But when
Speaker 2: it's happening to you, and this coach and this man
Speaker 2: you looked up to, this man you went onto a
Speaker 2: field for and fought for and wanted him to be
Speaker 2: proud of you. Now to be told, he may be
Speaker 2: all these other things. He may be a monster that
Speaker 2: is so disruptive to what you believe, especially when you're
Speaker 2: that young, it shakes you to your course. So I
Speaker 2: am so impressed with these young men to be able
Speaker 2: to put that aside and to let that unite them
Speaker 2: and actually drive them to be something beyond this scandal.
Speaker 2: I think it is absolutely beautiful and inspirational.
Speaker 1: And commend at this point. Jason Edward is his name?
Speaker 1: Somebody we would never know. There was no reason for
Speaker 1: you to know the name of the defensive coordinator to
Speaker 1: the high school football team in Virginia. That's the guy
Speaker 1: who has stepped up in the interim basis and has
Speaker 1: been the head coach the past two games. Again, they
Speaker 1: played the first one just with a missing coach. They
Speaker 1: played the second one with a fugitive coach. And that's
Speaker 1: the one they had to play yesterday yesterday afternoon, and
Speaker 1: they won that thing twenty one to fourteen. They do
Speaker 1: get a chance to play again Ropes this week. At
Speaker 1: the end of the week, they're playing Glen Varr High School.
Speaker 1: These two teams now are the only two undefeated teams
Speaker 1: left in the state playoffs. So they win this one
Speaker 1: and they're going to the state championship. Yes, we're rooting
Speaker 1: for them. We're rooting for them in the game, but man,
Speaker 1: we are rooting for them all week for what this
Speaker 1: possibly has done, and we know it has done to
Speaker 1: that community. But it was fun to get into and
Speaker 1: to be interested and to be rooting for a high
Speaker 1: school football team yesterday for the right reasons, but the
Speaker 1: only reason we are aware of them for all the
Speaker 1: wrong reasons. Ro but it gives me. Look, my Razorbacks sucks.
Speaker 1: So I got the the Union Bears the Bear through
Speaker 1: four this weekend. So please know, folks in Virginia, there
Speaker 1: are folks outside of your state that are rooting for you,
Speaker 1: and not just on the football field.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we hope you get answers, and we hope
Speaker 2: that Travis Turner is found safe so that he can
Speaker 2: answer to these charges and his family can get some
Speaker 2: answers and they aren't left with just questions, hopelessness, right
Speaker 2: to never know, to never know the truth, to never
Speaker 2: know what happened, to never hear from your loved one again.
Speaker 2: I was imagining that like the shock. He's got three children,
Speaker 2: he's got a wife who loves him, and it's it's
Speaker 2: to not know would be the worst. So we certainly
Speaker 2: hope that for that family, for that community, that they
Speaker 2: do get some answers and that Travis Turner is found alive.
Speaker 2: But yes, we will be watching the Bears come December sixth,
Speaker 2: that we will following the story. Thank you all for
Speaker 2: listening to us on this Sunday morning. I'm Amy Roboch
Speaker 2: alongside TJ. Holmes and we'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 1: The Cation pas ination