News
Two Waterloo Township Teens Reported Missing
By: Joe Higgins | Athens Messenger
Posted on:
The Athens County Sheriff's Office is asking the public for help in finding two Waterloo Twp. teens who have been missing since Tuesday evening.
According to Det. Brice Fick, 13-year-old Athens Middle School student Jonathan Ash and 16-year-old Tri-County Career Center student Bailey Bartlett have not been seen since Tuesday at 7 p.m. when the two cousins went into family owned woods off Vore Ridge Road.
Fick said the two were in the woods shooting and/or hunting that evening. He said one of juveniles came home briefly, but later went back into the woods. Their parents searched the woods on foot and on ATVs well into Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning.
The sheriff's office was notified Wednesday at 3 a.m. and began an investigation. Waterloo Twp. Fire Department volunteers walked arm-in-arm through the woods covering about 100 acres, but did not find any evidence of either of the boys.
Detectives have talked with friends of Ash and Bartlett, but have not developed any solid leads from those conversations.
Fick said foul play is not suspected in the case.
Ash is described as standing 5-3, weighing 145 pounds and having black hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing an orange hoodie, blue jeans and boots. Bartlett is described as standing 5-7, weighing 120 pounds and having blond hair and blue eyes. He was last seen wearing a black and green striped hoodie, jeans and a hat with YOLO printed on the bill.
Fick said he is optimistic the boys will be found safe and returned home.
Anyone with information as to the whereabouts of Jonathan Ash and/or Bailey Bartlett can call 911 or the Athens County Sheriff's Office at 593-6633.