JACKSONVILLE. Fla. – Deputies from two counties, K-9s, dive teams and a helicopter were involved in a large-scale search of western Duval County on Saturday. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office confirmed the search was connected to the search for a St. Johns County priest missing for nearly a week.
Father Rene Robert was last seen about 1 p.m. on April 10.
The search began hours after the man named a suspect in Robert’s disappearance, Steven James Murray, 28, was extradited from South Carolina and booked into the St. Johns County Jail. St. Johns County deputies said the priest had been trying to help Murray, who has has an extensive criminal history, but no convictions for violent crimes.
People who live along the Interstate 10 and Beaver Street corridor between I-295 and Baldwin were asked to check their property thoroughly, including wooded areas and around bodies of water. The St. Johns and Jacksonville sheriff’s offices ask anyone who sees disturbed ground or anything that looks suspicious to call police, but not to touch or tamper with anything.
“Law enforcement is determining where to search based on the information that they received from Murray,” News4Jax crime and safety analyst Gil Smith said. “What they want people to do was to check around their homes. They are thinking of the worst-case scenario. If Father Robert was killed, he could've been buried somewhere in this area, so they're asking people to just check around their home … garden tools, shovels and rakes that are misplaced."
Investigators were also reviewing surveillance video for any suspicious activity.
Although police have already recovered it, anyone who may have seen the priest’s 2012 blue Toyota Corolla in that area last is also asked to call the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office at 904-824-8304, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office at 904-630-0500 or Crime Stoppers at 877-277-TIPS.
A command center was set up at Baldwin High School and deputies were expected to be back in the area Sunday.