Three Corbin High students, lost for hours in woods, found by local deputies

A trio of Corbin High School students were located by authorities from both Laurel and Whitley counties early Friday morning after the three teens became lost in the forest following an after-dark swim in Laurel Lake.

According to Whitley County Sheriff’s Deputy Ron Bowling, the Laurel County 911 dispatch center received a call for assistance at around 2:05 a.m. Friday from a caller on Leona Wyatt Road in Corbin. The caller said the boys had left earlier in the evening and had not returned home. Bowling was on routine patrol in the area and responded to the call.

Bowling located clothing and shoes belonging to the teens near the shoreline of the lake, but could not locate them. Bowling requested assistance from Williamsburg Police K-9 unit Brandon Prewitt to conduct a ground search of the area. Laurel County Deputies Rob Mitchell, Milton Storms and John Inman, along with Whitley Deputy Alan Onkst, all joined the search.
In the midst of the search, authorities were told by a local resident that calls for help could be heard near the wood line.
The three teens were found at about 2:50 a.m. by Deputy Inman "exhausted, bruised, bleeding and barefoot" about one mile through the forest from where they were swimming.

"The teenagers stated they were swimming after dark and must have drifted from their swimming camp and got lost in the forest attempting to return home," Bowling said. "Deputy Onkst had the pleasure of notifying the family the teenagers had been located and were safe. What a great feeling."

Deputies struggled to assist the teens out of the "steep, rugged and heavily vegetated wood line." The teens were released to their parents at about 2:55 a.m.

Bowling credited quick response time to the positive ending.

"The continued commitment by Sheriff Lawrence Hodge for routine patrols throughout the county 24 hours a day seven days a week provided our department with the ability to respond and react to the incident quickly and prevent the possibility of serious injury or death."