Teen Brothers Who Went Missing During Duck Hunting Trip Now Presumed Dead, Authorities Say

Two teen brothers who went missing during a duck hunting trip in rural Northern California are now feared dead.

The Butte County Sheriff’s Office recently confirmed that the previous search and rescue efforts have now transitioned to search and recovery, two weeks after 17-year-old Wesley Cornett and 19-year-old Andruw Cornett went missing.

Sheriff’s office spokesperson, Megan McCann, told SFGATE the efforts “shifted to a continuous limited search for Andruw and Wesley Cornett on December 23, 2024. This involves surface search methods, including aircraft, drones, boats, on-shore vehicles and K9s,” the outlet reported.

Representatives from the Butte County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

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Three days after the brothers were last seen while duck hunting, a local diver part of the search and recovery team, found Andruw’s pants. Close to a week later, Wesley’s wallet was found, followed by his jacket with his cell phone inside, according to SFGATE.

The Thermalito Afterbay is described as a difficult area to search due to hypothermia threat limiting dive time, depths from 3 to 30 feet and vegetation up to 10 feet tall that poses a risk of entanglement to divers, the outlet reported.

Following the news that the search efforts for her sons had shifted, the boys’ mother, April Clark, addressed the heartbreaking news via a GoFundMe. “The Sheriff is saying this is now a search and recovery, so I will have to also plan to lay my two boys to rest,” her message read in part.

Related: Body Recovered Amid Search for Ill. Teen Who Disappeared While on Way to Work Party

“This is hard for me to write as I'm beyond broken into so many pieces. If you can please find it in your heart to donate and help our family find and lay my handsome two young boys to rest, any amount of support will forever be blessed for our family,” Clark wrote.

Currently, the GoFundMe has raised close to $41,000 of a $45,000 goal.

The Butte County Sheriff’s Office confirmed in a release on Monday, Dec. 16, that authorities initially responded to a missing persons alert on Dec. 14. The missing persons were later identified by local officials as Wesley and Andruw Cornett.

Related: California Brothers Ages 17 and 19 Missing amid Duck Hunting Trip, Say Police: 'Continue to Diligently Search'

“On Saturday, December 14th, BCSO deputies, detectives, the BCSO Aviation and Marine Unit and Butte County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue responded out to the Afterbay after reports that one of two duck hunters had overturned on a kayak, and the other one swam into the water to try and help," the release said.

"Both are currently missing. We continue to diligently search.”

According to the release from the Butte County Sheriff’s Office on Dec. 23, Andruw called 911 at 8:33 a.m. to report that Wesley’s kayak overturned and he was swimming away from it. Andruw then told the 911 dispatcher he was going to save his brother by going in the water.

Authorities said that Andruw revealed that neither he nor his brother were wearing life jackets.

At 8:47 a.m., the first deputy arrived at the scene, followed by Cal FIRE Water Rescue at 8:55 a.m. Seven minutes later, at 9:02 a.m., a deputy identified the kayak and possibly a victim before first responders began to search the area via rescue boats, the release said.

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