Search intensifies for missing 16-year-old Bayleigh Reese in Corpus Christi amid reported sightings<\/a><\/p>\nAbout three dozen volunteers led by the nonprofit South Texas Search and Rescue gathered near River Hills Baptist Church to search a new area connected to Reese\u2019s last known locations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe love you Bailey. Grandma needs to hug you. I need to love you, I need to fix your hair, baby please come home,\u201d said Debbie Wishard, Reese\u2019s grandmother.<\/p>\n
The plea comes after 22 days of uncertainty for the family, though they say their faith has not wavered.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have all the faith, our Lord is so good. He would not \u2014 it\u2019s all for His will. We will accept and understand whatever the outcome is,\u201d Wishard said.<\/p>\n
The family also says they are encouraged by recent reported sightings and believe Reese is still in the Coastal Bend.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe that she\u2019s still in the Coastal Bend area. We don\u2019t have any information that would lead us to believe she\u2019s moved from this area,\u201d said David Wishard, Reese\u2019s grandfather.<\/p>\n
Volunteers searched brush on the Wishards\u2019 ranch in Calallen and across roughly nine acres near River Hills Baptist Church. Family members thanked those who spent their Saturday morning helping.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think the turnout is pretty good for a Saturday morning when people have other things going on,\u201d David Wishard said. \u201cIt\u2019s a nice Saturday morning to be out doing other things, but they\u2019ve given their time for us to come in here and try and help us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amy Canchola with South Texas Search and Rescue led the search effort and urged the public to immediately notify authorities if they believe they have seen Reese.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you can snap a picture, that gives us more concrete evidence that she\u2019s in those locations,\u201d Canchola said. \u201cWe will get there as soon as we can. It can be within five minutes, 10 minutes, but we\u2019ll get there. And if you can just keep an eye on her \u2014 if you do see her \u2014 don\u2019t approach her. Don\u2019t try to engage with her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Canchola said Reese suffers from mental disabilities and may run if startled.<\/p>\n
Reese is described as 5 feet 7 inches tall and about 230 pounds. She was last seen wearing white pajamas and pink flip-flops. Her grandparents say she suffers from severe mental health issues, including post-traumatic stress stemming from a previous kidnapping.<\/p>\n
Anyone who believes they have seen Reese is asked to take a photo or video from a safe distance and immediately contact the Nueces County Sheriff\u2019s Office. Authorities say the public should not approach her.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than three weeks after Bayleigh Reese went missing, volunteers searched a new area near River Hills Baptist…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156217,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156],"class_list":{"0":"post-156216","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-corpus-christi","8":"tag-corpus-christi","9":"tag-corpus-christi-headlines","10":"tag-corpus-christi-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}