The search for a missing Louisiana man who disappeared Friday afternoon while mowing a pipeline right-of-way in Devers has been called off for the night. The search may resume Sunday morning, weather permitting. Rain is in the forecast for Sunday and the area where the search is centered is known to flood, so the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office, the agency leading the search, is being cautious so that no harm comes to any of the searchers.
Throughout the day Saturday, an estimated 60 searchers, many from Texas EquuSearch, combed the area where Zachary Godette, 23, was last seen and where his cell phone last pinged off a cell phone tower, but so far the searches have yielded no results. A game camera about two miles from where Godette was mowing has given searchers a direction of travel, but Godette could have back-tracked or changed his direction of travel.
According to Sgt. John Bennett, who is supervising the search for the Sheriff’s Office, there is some concern that Godette may have had a medical emergency, such as dehydration, that prompted him to walk away from his tractor. The tractor he was using to mow the right-of-way is a tracked tractor, meaning that it does not have traditional wheels but a track system. According to Bennett, one of the tracks on the tractor become inoperable.
As to whether or not he had water with him on the tractor, or may be suffering from dehydration, Bennett is uncertain. The area where the search is taking place is part of a 30,000-acre deer lease at the end of Gates Road in Devers. There are a few scattered deer camps on the property, but none have been breached. Texas EquuSearch volunteers spent hours on Saturday checking the camps and all the roads throughout the deer lease.
Godette’s vehicle was parked a long distance from the area he was mowing and he may have been trying to return to the vehicle when he became disoriented and lost. Bennett said the tractor is equipped with GPS and has the ability to plug in a phone charger cable, but Godette’s phone cable was found inside his unoccupied vehicle, which could explain why he has not attempted to send any messages or make calls. The area where the search is taking place has limited cell phone capability.
Last night, a Texas Department of Public Safety helicopter equipped with thermal imaging was flown over the area, but was unable to detect any sign of Godette. A helicopter for Houston Police Department flew over the site on Saturday, but again, there was no sign of Godette. LCSO was hoping to get the U.S. Coast Guard to fly over with their equipment, but the request got caught up in bureaucratic red tape, according to Bennett. They also tried scent-tracking dogs from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, but the dogs were unable to locate Godette’s scent trail.
While there are natural water sources on the property, mostly swampy streams, getting access to these comes with another peril – alligators, feral hogs, snakes, other wildlife and parasites in the water.
“This is not an area where you would want to be walking around,” Bennett said.
At about 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Bennett said he had no choice but to call off the search for the night. His biggest concern, other than the welfare of the missing man, was that a first responder or Texas EquuSearch volunteer might also become lost in the woods.
“My other biggest fear right now is the weather for tomorrow. We might not be able to get back out to the location where his truck was because, from my understanding, this area is low and the water gets to about waist high in a bad rain,” Bennett said.
He plans to monitor the weather overnight and pray for the rain clouds to go around Devers.
“We’ve already notified all the surrounding communities. We have notified other agencies and hospitals, in the event he turns up on his own. We also have notified the railroad because there is a rail line that runs through here and they might see something,” Bennett said. “We also are asking all the people who have deer leases in this area to check their game cameras. Maybe they captured him on their cameras.”
If anyone has information about this case, please contact the Sheriff’s Office by calling 936-336-4500.
Thank you for the update. I am a family member of this young man. Let’s not give up the search!
Thanks to all who are searching for my nephew Zack Godette, please keep searching🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
I am praying for the family
Praying for this young man
I pray 🙏 they will find this young man God I pray that you take care of this man please protect him from any harm and let him get home safe to his family in Jesus name Amen 🙏 . Thank you Lord and thank all the people that are looking for him .. I’m from Hammond Louisiana and my heart goes out to him and his family . Everyone just be careful we want everyone come home safe.
Michelle, Ben and Kids – We love you guys. We are praying for you, Zach. We love you. Please God, help these men and women locate Zach and bring him home to his family. Sending you all so much love from NY.
Anthony & Kristy P.
Praying he is located safe and sound!
I hope they find him and get him home safely. A thought for possible similar situations in the future though. If he’s working for a company make employees wear a tracking device and have basic items on board the tractor. WATER for starters. Make it mandatory and putting a couple of life straws on board wouldn’t hurt either. This horrendously stressful situation could have easily been averted. There are also phone charger cables that come with multiple plug tips for different phones. You’d think that all of this would be common sense precautions. If it IS a business that he’s working for, then they ought to put a woman in charge of that crew because you can best believe that he’d have had water at the very least.
My heart and prayers go out to y’all. Praying for a safe recovery.
thank you all ! its so beautiful to see people come together in times like this, may the LORD GOD guide you to him, because He knows exactly where this man is. my heart is filled with pride seeing all these people come together, texas is looking Good! / Rose
Prayers for his safe return
So many helpful precautions can be taken to prevent these incidents. People need to put mandatory precautions into effect especially with the size of the area.
Dear Lord be asking that you put a hedge of protection around him and bring him home safely
Prayers coming out of Oakdale Louisiana
He’s found safe and sound. Prayers worked.