Man Texted Wife Before He Went Missing During Hurricane. His Remains Were Found Over 7 Months Later

Yahoo

05-05-2025

A 60-year-old man went missing when Hurricane Helene caused massive flooding in eastern Tennessee
After his home was submerged, Steven Cloyd and his dog Orion sought shelter in his Jeep as he texted his wife updates
More than seven months later, Steven's remains were identified after crew members discovered them while cleaning up brush from the storm
More than seven months after Hurricane Helene devastated eastern Tennessee, the remains of a 60-year-old man who was texting with his wife when he got caught in the floodwaters have been identified.
On Thursday, May 1, crews were clearing brush when they came across human remains at the "2000 block of Highway 107 along the Nolichucky River," according to the Washington County Sheriff's Office. Two days later, the deceased was identified as Steven Cloyd, the sheriff's office announced in a statement on Facebook.
'We've been searching for his remains for 217 days,' Susan Saylor, public information officer for the Washington County Sheriff's Office, tells PEOPLE. 'He was located by a crew that was cleaning up the riverbank and clearing the massive amounts of debris that had been left behind."
Although the medical examiner's report is still pending, no foul play is suspected and the sheriff's office has determined that he died as a result of flooding.
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The news provides his grieving family some comfort.
'We know definitively where Steve is, in the hands of our Father, surrounded by his mother, my parents and so many who have gone before him,' read a family statement shared on his wife Keli's Facebook page over the weekend.
'He is in the light, he is at peace and he is free and he is perfect,' added Keli, who did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.
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On Sept. 27, the county was hit with a storm the likes of which residents had never seen before.
'The flood waters were clocked before one of our monitoring systems went out as rushing through the valley at a speed more than double that of the rate that water comes over Niagara Falls,' Saylor tells PEOPLE, noting that three people in the county ultimately lost their lives.
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That day, Steven was attempting to escape the floodwaters with his dog. According to his wife's Sept. 27 Facebook post, their house was submerged and Steven sought safety in his Jeep with their dog Orion, but the vehicle's battery died and his cellphone was losing power.
'He kept texting saying, 'here we go again,' meaning the Jeep was on the move again,' she wrote at the time. 'I haven't spoken to him since 2:29 p.m.'
Related: Body of Woman Swept Away in Flood Caused by Hurricane Helene Found More Than a Month Later
His dog was found the same day he went missing, but it took months of search efforts before Steven's body was found approximately two miles from where his Jeep was located.
In the more recent Facebook post, Keli thanked everyone who kept searching for her husband, including the workers who stayed with Steven's remains after they discovered him.
'We know it was not an easy task at hand, we know you'll carry that memory with you,' Keli wrote, adding that their family is forever grateful. She added, '[we] keep you close in our hearts and you kept Steve close to your hearts."
Read the original article on People