Pastor of missing Lancaster Co. man: 'Very tough time for the family'

LANCASTER COUNTY, S.C. — The family of a missing Lancaster County man fears he could be in trouble.

Jerell Ketron Eugene White, 22, was last seen walking around 1 a.m. Wednesday in the 4000 block of Pleasant Road in the Primus Community.

He was wearing a yellow and green soccer-style jersey.

"This is a very tough time for the family," White's pastor, Malcolm Williams, said. "It's a very tough time for our church family and Lancaster County."

White is a multi-talented musician in his church and well-known in the community. No one knows what happened to him.

"This is not like Jerell. He wouldn't do this," Williams said.

White's older brother Keith believes someone assaulted him at a home on Pleasant Road. White had gone there for a Fourth of July party.

Keith White said he went to the home the next morning.

(Jerell White)

"I looked on the ground and I seen my brother's glasses. My brother wears glasses, and I seen his glasses were shattered in their driveway," Keith White said.

Search teams later found White's cellphone near a fence.

Channel 9 saw a police helicopter in the sky Thursday morning as well as officers on the ground searching the wooded area near Primus Crossroads in rural Lancaster County.

The search area is several miles long, covering an area near Logging Road and Highway 522, off into the woods along two different creeks.

The search involves the Sheriff's Office, SLED, the county fire department and volunteers, including Tanner Haskell.

"You get in a line together, just so you can see the person next to you, and you walk through the area that you're confined to," Haskell said.

White’s pastor said that the family is anxious but leaning on their church family for support.

"We're standing in faith and believing in prayer,” Williams said. “That's the only thing that’s keeping us, our head above the water right now is our faith in God."

There is surveillance video from the house where the Fourth of July party took place. Channel 9 reporter Greg Suskin was told it shows White leaving the house but it's not clear in the video if he was injured.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office at 803-283-3388.

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