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Search for missing Catawba County teens continues

FAIRFIELD COUNTY, S.C. — The families of two missing Catawba County teens continued their search Sunday.

Eighteen-year-old Jake Ziegler and 17-year-old Ray Pierce told their families they were headed to Myrtle Beach a week ago and haven’t been heard from since.

Investigators told Eyewitness News that reports of the teens being spotted at a Myrtle Beach gas station and department store turned out to be false.

The families of the two boys said they had hoped the sightings were true and after hearing that they weren’t true, they promised not to give up.

“I want to curl up in a ball and stay in bed until this is over and we can’t. I can’t. I will not,” said Jackie, Jake’s sister.

Investigators said their cell phone signal was last detected Oct. 13 near mile marker 48 on Interstate 77 near Fairfield County.

In a press conference held in Blythewood, S.C., family members announced plans to refocus the search in that area.

“We’re scaled back our search efforts in the Myrtle Beach area, because we feel this is where we need to concentrate,” said Kevin Ryan a private investigator.

Nearly 60 volunteers searched old dirt paths near the Interstate Sunday.

Volunteers also focused on football fans at Bank of America Stadium handing out flyers and asking those who drove in from South Carolina to keep a look out for the 2006 Pontiac the teens were in.

The family is also asking people to take to Facebook and Twitter in hopes that someone who knows what happened will come forward