'I Will Never Stop Looking,' Vows Missing Man’s Pregnant Fiancée

The pregnant fiancée of James Matthew Ragan, a Bristol, Tennessee, man who disappeared during a fishing trip last week, says she’ll never give up the search.

“I can’t give up hope … I gotta keep going and I gotta keep praying,” his fiancée, Jennifer Laughlin, told WJHL-TV on Thursday.

Ragan, 41, was last seen on the afternoon of Feb. 9, when he set out for a fishing and camping trip at South Holston Lake, a 1,600-acre body of water that’s popular with area anglers. He told Laughlin that evening he’d set his camp up and was preparing to go fishing, according to his fiancée. Before he hung up, he said he loved her and promised to call later. That call never came, Laughlin said. She reported him missing on Feb. 11.

Ragan’s family and friends have been searching each day for him ever since he vanished. Organizations east of Knoxville have joined the hunt, along with the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency and South Holston Rescue Squad.

Jim Bean, director of Sullivan County’s Emergency Management, told The Bristol Herald Courier, “I really feel for the family. They need some closure.”

Ragan’s overturned canoe was found last Saturday, north of the U.S. Highway 421 bridge, WCYB News reported. As a result, authorities have been treating the case more as a recovery than a rescue, searching the water with cameras and sonar devices.

The methods are upsetting to Ragan’s 17-year-old daughter, Hannah, who has spent every free moment scouring the shoreline.

“They’re trying to recover the body instead of rescuing him,” she told the Herald Courier, adding that her father could still be alive.

“The unknown is the worst part.”

The search is scheduled to resume Friday morning.

David Lohr covers crime and missing persons. Tips? Feedback? Send an email or follow him on Twitter.