Search called off for N.C. teen missing in Neuse River

Emergency Management officials have called off the search for 17-year-old Anthony Michael Badger Jr., of Oriental, said David Spruill, coordinator for the Pamlico County Emergency Management Services.

The Pamlico County Sheriff’s Department plans to continue boat patrols, he said.

The county’s 911 center notified the Coast Guard at 6:30 a.m. Sunday that three teenagers had taken a jet ski on the river. Two  of the three wore life jackets while swimming, according to a news release from the Coast Guard, and the teen without the life jacket began to struggle.

He slipped beneath the surface before his friends could get a life jacket to him, the release said.

 The Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Pamlico County Sheriff’s Office were involved in the search effort Sunday and Monday. It  was turned over to the EMS unit Tuesday; the search was ended late yesterday. 

Staff writer Shawn Day contributed to this report.