Body Found in Search for Oklahoma Father Who Went Missing While in Texas for Son’s Liver Transplant

A body was found in Texas Tuesday in the search for an Oklahoma man who went missing in the Lone Star State while in town for his son’s liver transplant, according to reports.

Ridge Cole, 28, was last seen at a Ronald McDonald House in Houston, though a body was pulled from Brays Bayou Tuesday, officials said, according to New York Post.

“HPD Dive Team members are on scene of a body observed in Brays Bayou in the 4500 block of Martin Luther King Blvd about 12:10 pm,” Houston police tweeted.

While it has not been confirmed if the body is Cole’s, the search and rescue organization aiding in the case, Texas EquuSearch, said clothes on the body were similar to what the missing father was wearing before he disappeared, according to KTRK.

"Mom is devastated, but there is also an obvious sense of relief. Her biggest fear was going back home to Oklahoma without her baby. And she doesn't have to do that now," Mark Edwards, with Texas EquuSearch, said in a statement to KTRK.

Cole had been in Houston for his 13-month-old son’s liver transplant and was staying with his family at the Ronald McDonald House that is near Texas Medical Center, KTRK reported.

Tim Miller, who founded Texas EquuSearch, believes Cole had gone for a walk along Brays Bayou, where some of his belongings were found, KTRK reported.

"He somehow slipped into the bayou. It's a terrible vertical ledge, and we found personal effects on the bank where he had been sitting, and it really pointed to that he had entered the water," Edwards said told the news outlet.

EqueeSearch posted about Cole Saturday on their Facebook page and is asking the public for help.

They are asking anyone to please contact the HPD Missing Persons Unit at 832-394-1840 or Texas EquuSearch at 281-309-9500 if you have any information on Ridge's whereabouts and refer to case # 1530524-22.

"This is the most unreal thing," Shannon Foster, Cole's aunt, told KHOU. "He would never disappear and not let them know where he is at."

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