By Seamus McGraw

March 3, 2006

WAYCROSS, Ga. (Crime Library ) — Teams of searchers were expected to fan out today through the swamps and wetlands in a remote section of Ware County this morning, looking for any trace of the 27-year-old son of a former Georgia State Senator who went missing more than two weeks ago.

Donnie Lavan Streat Jr., known to his friends simply as Van Junior, vanished sometime after 10:15 pm Feb. 15 after completing his shift at a local CSX railroad facility, Bacon County Sheriff Richard Foskey told Crime Library. The young man, still wearing his railroad uniform, had been planning to meet friends that night, Foskey said, but never showed up.

Donnie Lavan "Van" Streat Jr.

Two days later, after family members became concerned and he was reported missing, Van Junior's pickup truck was found, partially submerged in shallow water in a muddy road in an area dotted by swamps and wetlands, Foskey said. "The whole road was underwater, and it was recovered on the 17^th."

So far, local police, the sheriff's office, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which is leading the missing person's probe, have few leads.

GBI