Prayer vigil held for missing Carter County man Victor Birchfield

ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. (WJHL) — People gathered Tuesday evening for a vigil for missing Carter County man Victor Birchfield.

Birchfield was reported missing on June 21, a day after Carter County inmate Billy Fletcher walked off from work detail . Fletcher was captured in South Carolina .

The Carter County Sheriff’s Office believes the two cases are connected . Birchfield’s vehicle was recovered in South Carolina after it was spotted in the Clemson area .

On Monday, friends, family, co-workers, and community members gathered to pray for Birchfield’s family as they await answers regarding his whereabouts and how he went missing.

The vigil was supposed to rally support for a search for Birchfield. But Birchfield’s daughter, Tiffany Cole, said that changed when unidentified remains were found in the Butler community of Johnson County over the weekend.

“I think we all know in our hearts that they belong to my dad,” Cole said. “Again, just having that confirmation, knowing he’s not out there somewhere suffering, being able to get those answers of, you know, kind of exactly what occurred.”

Cole said she needs answers surrounding her father’s disappearance.

“Negligence is a hard word to use and a strong word to use. But I think to me and all of my family, lots of my dad’s friends, and just people in the community, that’s exactly what has happened here,” Cole said. “There was a case of negligence that has resulted in the worst possible outcome.”

At the vigil, people wrote down some of their favorite memories of Birchfield, including his friend since high school and aircraft mechanic client Steve Hopland.

“Victor always got the job done,” Hopland said. “He was like, ‘I said, you didn’t have to worry about the work being done right.’ He always did it right. Took care of it, was always taking care of people. In fact, I think that may have got him in trouble is helping other people out, as he was always helping others.”

Hopland said Birchfield is irreplaceable.

“He’s gone with me to go find airplanes that needed maintenance and fly them back here,” Hopland said. “He’s flown with me out. You know, we’d have airplane problems and landed in Florida and we came back home and got Victor went back down, fixed the airplane and flew it back home.”

Cole said it’s beautiful to see the community’s support.

“Kindness came easy to him,” Cole said. “The love and support we have received from the community from day one has been amazing. I have my boys here today. They’ve been pretty outside of this whole process because it has been traumatic. But I want them to see how many people love their papaw. How many people know what a wonderful human he is, how many lives he’s touched.”

Cole said many of her classmates dating back to elementary school have reached out in support.

“I’ve had his friends from high school, Army buddies, you know, people from literally all over the United States calling and saying, ‘Hey, what is going on?'” Cole said. “He’s very loved.”

Cole said it would be a long fight ahead of them even after they find out the DNA results.

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