A body found near a creek in Toulminville, a neighborhood in Mobile, Alabama, was identified on Wednesday, Jan. 3, as that of 65-year-old Clarence Shute Jr.
Shute’s children say his daughter dropped him off at the First Baptist Church of Carver Homes on New Year’s Eve day, but instead of walking into the church, he crossed the road and went through a parking lot before disappearing.
Friends and family started searching for him after he went missing. On Tuesday, members of the U.S. National Reserve Corps joined the search.
It was 50 to 100 feet from where a drone had been searching for him the night before, Brandon Shute told News 5.
“He was a good dude. He was a straightforward dude. What you see is what you get,” Brandon Shute said of his father. “About 10 years ago he found Christ, and ever since then he’s been going to church and caring for his kids and his grandkids. He was very loved. I got nieces that love him like he’s their father.”