I talked to the guy he was with, briefly, while they were dividing the large group into smaller groups (the hat and shovel witness guy and his friend (or co-worker maybe?) ended up on another team, so I only had a brief convo, but it went like this :
Me: (after hearing Hat/Shovel guy talking (with his raspy voice)), "Oh, is that the guy that saw Casey with the shovel leaving the woods?"
Shovel guy's friend: "Yeah, you have a good memory!"
Me: "Did he ever get to search that area himself?"
SHovel guys' friend: (I forgot his exact wording, but something along the lines of): "No, they have forbidden him from searching there"
Me: "Who, law enforcement?"
Shovel Guy's friend: "Yeah"
I forget if they said they'd arrest him, or exactly what the threat was to the shovel guy if he went there, but apparently LE told him he is not allowed to search that area himself. I don't know why.
After that we split up so I didn't get to ask anymore questions.