Missing Tenn. woman 'was in fear for her life'

PARSONS, Tenn. — Searchers found a lunch box belonging to a western Tennessee nursing student abducted from her home by a man wearing hunting camouflage, investigators said Friday.

Investigators said Holly Bobo's white lunch box was recovered from a creek about eight miles from her home. An earlier report that her cell phone and camouflage clothing had been found in a car in the area was incorrect, said Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Special Agent John Mehr.

Bobo, 20, was last seen early Wednesday morning as she walked into the woods with an unknown man, but Mehr said authorities do not believe she went willingly.

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"We feel she was in fear of her life, so she was complying with his commands," Mehr said.

TBI officials have said Bobo's 25-year-old brother Clint saw his sister outside the house with a man before she was kidnapped at around 7:30 a.m. But he only saw the man from the back, and he thought he was her boyfriend.

He did not become suspicious until he went outside and saw blood. Then he called 911.

"The boyfriend is not a suspect. The brother is not a suspect," Mehr said. "We are confident of that."

Officials have no suspects, he and Decatur County Sheriff Roy Wyatt said.

TBI spokeswoman Kristin Helm said the TBI has not yet confirmed whether the blood outside the house belonged to Holly Bobo, who was on her way to her college classes when she disappeared.

The TBI had previously said Bobo was dragged from her home near Parsons, about 100 miles northeast of Memphis. On Friday, Mehr clarified that she was being held by the hand or arm, but not in a forceful manner.

Search efforts
A midday break in the rain allowed dozens of law enforcement officers and volunteers to resume looking for Bobo near Parsons, about 100 miles northeast of Memphis.

AP

Holly Bobo

Bobo's parents pleaded Thursday for help from the public. Her father, Dana Bobo, told reporters they suspect she was taken by someone who knew the family's daily routine.

She was last seen by her brother about 8 a.m. Wednesday as she prepared to leave for her college classes.

"I just have a feeling it might have been somebody close, who knew our routine — when she (his wife) left, when I left, when our daughter left," Dana Bobo said.

"Holly, I love you so much," her mother, Karen Bobo, an elementary school teacher, said through sobs. "... She's just so precious, you don't even know."

Even Wyatt choked back tears as he reiterated the plea for help.

"This family — we can only imagine what they're going through," he said. "They need your help."

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.