Calif. teen brothers missing after weekend duck-hunting excursion goes horribly wrong

Two teenage brothers have been missing for over a week in Northern California after they went duck hunting in stormy weather on Dec. 14.

Wesley Cornett, 17, and Andruw Cornett, 19, went hunting at the Thermalito Afterbay, a large body of water in Butte County with 17 miles of shore­line and 4,300 sur­face acres of water.

“Approximately 250 people from 21 different organizations have been searching for Wesley and Andruw Cornett since last Saturday, the day the two brothers went missing while duck hunting at the Thermalito Afterbay,” the Butte County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a Facebook post earlier this week, along with a video detailing high-tech efforts to find the two missing teenagers in weed-covered water.

Search efforts began the same day the teenagers went missing, with SCSO deputies, detectives, the BCSO Aviation and Marine Unit, and BCSO Search and Rescue responding to “reports that one of two duck hunters had overturned on a kayak, and the other one swam into the water to try and help.”

“Thousands of acres have been searched by boat, by ground and by raft,” Trevor Skaggs with BCSO Search and Rescue said in a video posted to the sheriff’s office Facebook page.

Jeff Eggleson of Big Valley Divers said “the most difficult thing” rescuers have to do is “get through the weeds” at the base of Thermalito Afterbay.

Heavy rain and winds swept across Butte County on Saturday, leading about 5,000 people without power, according to local news outlet Action News Now.

The boys’ mother, April Clark, created a GoFundMe called “Help April Clark Find and Honor Her Sons,” hoping to raise money for search efforts and eventually for their funerals.

“My two handsome sons went hunting Saturday Dec 14th 2024. Wesley, 17, went out on the kayak and over turned and his brother Andruw, 19, seen him in distress called 911 and stated there was no time to wait he was going in to save his brother [sic],” Clark wrote in the GoFundMe page description. “Neither one of my boys have been seen since Saturday. Andruw is a hero in my eyes.”

Clark added that the sheriff is now calling the search for her sons a “recovery” mission.

“This is a freak accident that my family and I are trying to wrap our heads around and we also have 4 girls at home who we still need to care for,” Clark wrote. “This is hard for me to write as im beyond broken into so many pieces if you can please find it in your heart to donate and help our family find and lay my handsome two young boys to rest any amount of support will forever be blessed for our family.”