RUSK, Texas (KTRE)- A volunteer search group of almost 40 people came out to the city of Rusk on Saturday to help find a missing 57-year-old Cherokee County man, James David Blount.
Blount went missing on December 2nd, and there is currently a $30,000 reward for anyone with information about his whereabouts or his stolen car.
As of now, the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office and Heal-Corp, a non-profit based in Florida, have also been assisting in the search for Blount.
Today’s search was organized by true crime creator Nicole Morris, with help from her friend Rachell Long.
Through her account ‘true crime nicole’, she has been actively posting and documenting her journey trying to get justice around Blount’s disappearance.
“He could be anywhere, you know, that’s why we need more people, more people out here, boots on the ground. The amount of people that wanted to help its like, wow, this is amazing,” Morris explained.
Search groups looked all around Rusk and surrounding cities today, primarily focusing on wooded, rural areas.
“There’s so much ground to cover, the more eyes, I mean we just need more people because look. It’s a lot out here,” Long said.
With Morris’ following, she was able to garner volunteers from Rusk, surrounding cities, and beyond– full of people who knew and didn’t know him, but all shared one thing in common- a desire to bring justice for Blount and his family.
“My heart hurts for his family, and it’s just why I feel so adamant to keep his name alive and keeping his story alive because I dont feel like it’s enough coverage, I feel like it’s just locals,” Morris said.
Blount’s friends and town locals described him as a “kind man”, and say he wasn’t the type of person to just walk away.
It’s why they think there was foul play involved with his disappearance.
“I come out here in the country and see all the woods and all the revenes, and all the water, and he could be anywhere,” Morris said.
Using Side-by-Sides, drones, and walking on foot, volunteers spent hours working to find him and any evidence that could lead to justice.
“We have different, two groups, split up. We have one group here, and we have one group in a whole other area, and we’re gonna meet up again and then disperse out again and go to another area to look,” she explained.
Volunteers say they won’t stop searching until Blount is found.
Anyone with information about Blount and his whereabouts is asked to call the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office.
Morris also said that she will be coming out next weekend, holding another search group. For those interested in getting involved, they can contact her at “true crime nicole” on Facebook.
Copyright 2025 KLTV. All rights reserved.