Searchers Seek Soldier Missing For 3 Days

Teams of soldiers and civilians, in ATVs, helicopters and on horseback, scoured the rugged Fort Hood terrain early Monday for a soldier missing since he set out on a solo navigation exercise three days earlier.

Army officials said the teams had searched through the night for Sgt. Lawrence G. Sprader but had no new developments.

CBS affiliate KWTX correspondent Matt Felder reports that Sprader, 24, made contact by cell phone at 5 p.m. Friday, saying he was off-course but physically OK — but that was the last contact they've had with him.

The 24-year-old was aiming to complete a six-hour solo navigational mission, part of a course at the Noncommissioned Officer Academy.

"We believe that it's possible he was very intent on completing the course on his own. But if he was off-course, we don't know what direction he headed in," Col. Danna Battaglia told KWTX.

"In his last message, he said he reached a hard, paved road, and was instructed to call in if that happened," Battaglia said. "He wasn't able to give any terms of reference as to where he was located."

More than 600 personnel from Fort Hood have aided in the search of 25 square miles by both land and air. Texas Parks and Wildlife, the Department of Public Safety, and Texas Cattleman's Association are also involved. Searchers with bloodhounds from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice were also enlisted.

Temperatures are expected to reach the low 90s Monday, as they did Sunday.

"The longer he goes without being resupplied with water or food, or if he is completely lost and disoriented, there would be fear for his physical well-being," Battaglia said.

The orientation course is set in a remote and rugged area of Fort Hood, south of the Fort Hood-Killeen Regional Airport. The area includes hills, fields, dirt trails and woods. Searchers believe Sprader may be obscured by foliage in a wooded area, Battaglia said.

Sprader, who is assigned to the Army's Noncommissioned Officer Academy, was carrying two canteens and a water backpack, she said.

"We do believe he is somewhere on the installation, and that area abuts up next to several public roads," Battaglia said. "We believe he may not be right mentally or physically."

It is also possible he may have been picked up by someone. Anyone with information is being asked to call the Fort Hood Criminal Investigations Division at (254) 287-2722.