A man from Virginia who attempted to walk home during a devastating snowstorm last week was found dead three days later, according to hisfamily.
Jacob Whaley went missing on Jan. 3 during an intense storm that led to heavy snowfall and caused anhours-long shutdown on Virginia’s Interstate 95.
On a Facebook donation page, Whaley’s relatives said he attempted to walk six miles in freezing temperatures to see his 2-year-old son, Jacob Dawson Whaley, after driving into a ditch during the storm.
The 34-year-old dad was last heard from when he sent a message to his mother later that night to tell her he was lost. After receiving the message, she immediately called emergency services.
Three days later, Whaley’s body was found in a wooded area 200 yards from the road, theAssociated Pressreported.
“He had tried to make a fire to keep warm,” relatives wrote on theJacob Whaley Memorial Fund for Jacob Dawson Whaleypage.
As much as eight inches of snow had fallen over the area during the storm,WRICsaid.
“I’m so angry with this county,” Jacob’s mother, Shannon Whaley, told the news station. “All they had to do was go out and holler for him.”
In a statement to theNew York Times, the sheriff’s office — which did not immediately return PEOPLE’s request for comment — said they had “immediately responded to the family’s request to check both the roadside area along Greene’s Corner Road, the roadways in between and his residence,” but were unable to locate him the night of his disappearance.
The family’s donation page has raised more than $8,000 from 154 donors as of Monday afternoon. Funds will go to Whaley’s son when he is older, a description on the page explained.
“Jacob leaves behind his 2 Year Old Son, Jacob Dawson Whaley who was his pride and joy,” relatives wrote on Facebook.
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The search party that found Whaley was made up of citizen volunteers and members of the sheriff’s office.
“Our heartfelt condolences go out to the family and friends of Mr. Jacob Whaley,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement toWRIC.
“Missing persons cases are always a top priority for the Louisa County Sheriff’s Office, and we share in their grief and sorrow,” they added.
source: people.com
