What happened to a missing White County man? Truck found abandoned in Hart County

A mysterious missing person’s case that began in White County and wades into Hart County has left authorities without answers as to the man’s whereabouts.

Douglas Cordell Barnes, 36, was last seen at his home in White County on July 19, according to the missing persons flier.

A deputy spotted his Ford F-150 pickup abandoned behind a guardrail on a Hart County highway on July 21.

Barnes’ family reported him missing to White County officials on July 28.

A Hart County deputy returned to the pickup on July 31 and upon learning that the owner had been reported missing, an investigation began.

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Hart County sheriff’s officials conducted an air and land search of the area without finding anything, Sheriff Mike Cleveland said Friday.

Later on Aug. 12, a volunteer group of more than two dozen volunteers conducted a similar search that was led by the volunteer search and rescue group Texas EquuSearch out of Dickinson, Texas.

“A lot of ground was covered, but not all of it,” said search group coordinator Scott Underwood of Brantley County, Ga.

“There is a lot more to this,” Underwood said Friday about the investigation. Underwood said there is video showing the truck traveling into South Carolina sometime before it ends up on a roadside in Hart County.

Sheriff Cleveland said investigators have no leads on where Barnes might be, whether he is missing voluntarily or if foul play is involved.

“All we know for sure is his truck turned up in Hart County. Was he in the truck when it was left? Nobody knows,” he said.

The truck was purposely driven behind a long guardrail along a rural road not far from Interstate 85.

“You have to go around the guardrail to get to the place it was stuck. It’s not like it was just pulled off the road and became stuck. That didn’t happen,” the sheriff said.

The truck also contained a number of belongings.

“That’s all I can say about that. There was property in the truck that didn’t make sense to leave,” Cleveland said.

The sheriff said his investigators have been in touch with White County sheriff’s investigators and there did appear to be some personal issues that Barnes was dealing with at the time.

Barnes was living with his father, while his mother currently resides in Tulsa, Okla. A GoFundMe page was set up to help finance a trip by his Oklahoma relatives to Georgia.

Anyone with information may contact Hart County deputies at (706) 376-3114 or White County deputies at (706) 865-5177.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Mysterious disappearance of man leads to searches in Hart County