Ranger Finds Man Missing For Three Days

On the afternoon of Saturday, March 15th, ranger Johnny Stafford found a man who’d been the subject of an intensive three-day search at the Cooks Lake day use area. William Foster, 57, of Orange County, Texas, left his home on the Neches River just outside the park on the afternoon of Wednesday, March 12th, telling a friend that he was going for a short boat ride on the Neches River and wouldn’t be gone long. When he hadn’t returned by dark, his family notified the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and the Coast Guard. The agencies immediately began a search for him. On the following morning, the county advised the park and requested assistance in the search. Rangers Mike Hughes and Johnny Stafford and resource manager Dusty Pate responded in park boats and began searching the Neches River within Big Thicket. Texas Parks and Wildlife agents also joined the effort, which was conducted by helicopter and boat. No sign of Foster was found and the county accordingly scaled the search back on Saturday, March 15th. Stafford was checking some water areas outside the original search area that afternoon when he came upon Foster. According to Foster, he’d gotten lost on his way back up the river while heading home and had ended up in Pine Island Bayou. He wound his boat through the bayou until he ran out of gas at Cooks Lake on Wednesday evening. He said that he’d gone for three days without any food or water while waiting to be rescued. Several fishermen came and went from Cooks Lake during the three days he was there, but Foster said he was scared and reluctant to ask for help. He’d slept in the bushes at night and had made a fire to keep warm. Stafford immediately gave Foster some water and determined that he didn’t need any medical treatment. The two then went to a nearby McDonalds, where Stafford bought Foster the first food he’d had in three days. The search generated a lot of local media interest, including coverage by three television stations from the Beaumont, Orange, Port Arthur area and newspapers from Beaumont, Vidor and Orange, Texas.