MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas—The search will continue on Tuesday for a 21-year-old man who disappeared near Lake Conroe on Dec. 13.
Montgomery County officials have been searching for Justin Claus since Friday.
Texas Equusearch officials plan to bring high-tech sonar equipment in to help.
“We just keep the faith,” said the man’s mother Lynda Anderson-Claus from her home in Willis. “God’s in control.”
Claus’ parents said their son took his dog Angela and they went camping in Sam Houston National Forest on Tuesday.
Later that night, Claus reportedly called his friend Alex Vand and told him the motor on his boat died.
“He says, I’m barely fighting the current right now so I was gonna start paddling,” Vand recalled. “I said, ‘Want me to meet you somewhere so you don’t have to paddle that far?’ And he said, ‘Yeah.’”
Vand said that he waited at the bank and, even though Claus never showed up, he wasn’t worried.
“I didn’t see nothing, but I didn’t think nothing of it,” Vand said.
On Wednesday, the man’s dog reappeared in a neighbor’s backyard.
A day later, Claus’ family filed a missing person’s report.
“I’m just praying that he’s alright,” Vand said.
While search crews combed the land and water of Lake Conroe on Saturday, Claus’ father found his lunch box and his boat.
Nothing has been found since.
Anyone with any information is urged to call the Montgomery County Precinct 1 Constable’s Office at 281-364-4211 or Texas EquuSearch at 281-309-9500.
