SOUTH PADRE ISLAND — Cameron County authorities are in contact with their counterparts in Mexico to determine if a missing 18-year-old spring breaker may have crossed the border into Mexico.
Justin Kirby Walker of Kendall County near San Antonio was last seen Saturday night leaving the Ultimate Music Fest at the Schlitterbahn Beach Waterpark. Authorities have been searching for him ever since.
Cameron County Park Police Chief Horacio Zamora said investigators have been in contact with Mexican authorities to determine whether Walker was arrested across the border in Matamoros. As of yesterday, there was no such indication, he said.
Search patrols cleared the marshy areas near the Schlitterbahn Waterpark yesterday morning, as the investigation and search for Walker continued into a third day.
Zamora said the sand dunes behind the water park were cleared as well by search crews from the Cameron County Park Police Department, U.S. Border Patrol and the Cameron County Sheriff’s office.
Zamora said the Texas Rangers have started to interview Walker’s friends who accompanied him to the music fest.
“At this time we are moving the investigation into the leads we have and talking to other people who were with Walker at the campsite,” Zamora said.
Authorities said Walker had been staying with friends at a campsite inside Isla Blanca Park.
In addition to local and federal agencies, authorities said, volunteers have begun to aid in the search for the missing teenager. Authorities said a handful of volunteers combed the area near Schlitterbahn yesterday afternoon.
Search crews from the sheriff’s department actively searched for Walker yesterday along the water.
“The Cameron County Sheriff’s Department took their boat out into the water just to search the areas around Isla Blanca Park. They were out there Monday but had to bring the boat in due to the weather conditions,” Zamora said.
The South Padre Island Police Department is also assisting in the search. Zamora said the department’s newest drone has not been secured for the search and even if it was available, windy conditions would prevent it from working well.
Zamora believes there is a possibility Walker may be found alive and might have left the area with people he met at the music fest event.
“There’s always a possibility; he could have left with anybody. There are thousands of kids coming out to this event and there is always a possibility he made some friends and left with them,” Zamora said.
According to Zamora, with little to go on, investigators are weighing their options.
“We are looking at trying to get videos, information called in to our phone line, talking to people from the upper Valley that were in the same campsite,” Zamora said.
Anyone with information regarding Walker is urged to call the Cameron County Park Police Department at 956-761-5283.
