My name is Richard Frazier, I deer hunted the Tallahatchie creek (NOT THE CANAL) that same day Jessica went missing. The tallahatchie creek runs into the Tallahatchie canal just about a 1/4 mile west of the Graham lake boat ramp. I was there with my son, brother and his son. We hunted that whole day in the green fields. When we put our boat on the trailer at Graham Lake boat ramp that night, I met two young boys heading out at dark in a jon boat with mud motor. I recognized them from the day before because they had shown me 2 hogs they killed. I asked them where they were going. They told me they were going to meet the Union county sheriff deputies over in Union county (ON THE RIVER CANAL) to look for Jessica that night. I was worried because it was dropping below freezing each night and the river was up about 6 feet deep and was flowing dangerously. We went home and researched the news. My son and I went back 2 days later and put in at Graham Lake boat ramp. I called the sheriff deputy that morning and told him I was heading up the river to where she supposedly went missing. By then the water level had dropped back down to normal shallow depth in the channel. It was a tough 20 mile ride in 2-3 foot of water. When we passed the HWY 30 bridge, I noticed the water was much more shallow and the boat motor struggled in the sand. My son and I beached our hunting boat on the "South" side of the river channel where we saw fresh boat landing tracks in the sand. We walked East along the bank on a 4 wheeler trail till we got to a deep, wide ditch that pours water into the river. About 50 feet from the mouth of this ditch we saw another boat landing track, obviously was a jon boat. We found a human bare foot print in the sand and a human hand print in the same spot. There was a stick stuck in the sand at this spot. It was apparently put there by other searchers. There was a large culvert at this spot in the ditch and was almost totally submerged. This culvert was about 3-6 feet in diameter and looked to be 15-20 foot long. I could not see into the culvert due to the water. The north end of the culvert was totally submerged. The south end had just a few inches exposed. This ditch was still pretty deep. I estimated 4-6 feet deep but didn't get in it. We continued down the atv and hunting trails looking for foot tracks, but did not find any other bare foot prints. This led me to believe she either got back in the boat at that spot or she went into the water at that spot. Now think, If the water had dropped since she went in, and if she went in at that point, then she would have been pushed into that Culvert by the current. This is my theory. If the culvert is stopped up my mud and roots and limbs, then she would have been pinned in the culvert by the current. The water was dangerous the day she went missing. IT was bad. It had been raining for several days. I took pictures of the footprint, hand print and stick where I believe she stepped out of the boat. I texted all my findings to the union county sheriff investigator along with the exact GPS coordinates at about 10:30pm that night. He did not reply. Here are the pictures I took that day with my son. The GPS coordinates are: 34 37' 34" N, 89 11' 30" W. My email is
rianfrazier@yahoo.com. I have given all this information to the Union County sheriff, but am not sure if they did any more trips out there after that. I have not been back up the canal since that day and you will need some water depth to get a boat up there. The south bank in that area looks like a big hunting club. Prayers to her family and friends. We hope she is found and brought home to her mother. I hope this information helps yall.
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