Two Brothers Still Missing After Duck Hunting Incident in Northern California

It’s been nine days since two brothers, ages 17 and 19, were reported missing after embarking on a duck hunting trip in Northern California. According to a release from the Butte County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) on December 14th, BCSO deputies, detectives, the BCSO Aviation and Marine Unit, and BCSO Search and Rescue responded out to the Thermalito Afterbay after reports that one of two duck hunters had overturned on a kayak, and the other one swam into the water to try and help.

The teenagers were later identified as 17-year-old Wesley Cornett and 19-year-old Andruw Cornett. While the search efforts have been extensive the sheriff's office has said it is not asking for assistance from the public.

"We are receiving assistance today from several different law enforcement agencies from across Northern California. There are several boats out at the Afterbay searching," the sheriff's office said on Tuesday of last week.

The investigation, which began rescue-oriented in nature, has since switched to a recovery effort as the prospects of finding the two boys alive continued to dwindle with each day that passed.

"We are running a lot of sonar equipment trying to narrow down anomalies that we can further inspect with underwater ROVs, which are unmanned underwater vehicles, as well as divers. The search that we are doing right now is a recovery," Sgt. Brian Evans, with the Butte County Sheriff's Office, Marine Unit, stated.

On Friday of last week, the Butte County Sheriff’s Office announced that divers from co-operating Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office had located Wesley Cornett’s jacket, phone and shotgun shells.

With no other signs of either of the victims over the weekend, the multi-agency search effort continues into this week with the holidays fast approaching.