Texas Rangers and forest agents joined with local lawmen and volunteers in the search for 51 year old, Harold W. (Bill) Roland who has been missing since Monday, July 21, 1997. The Lufkin man was last seen around 12:45 P.M. Monday near Lake Sam Rayburn's Powell Park in San Augustine County, according to a report at the Angelina County Sheriff's office. Roland stands 6 foot, 2 inches and weighs about 250 pounds. He has blue eyes and grayish white hair.

Also missing are his 1996 Gray Chevy Z71 extended cab pickup with a large orange ladder (marked J.O.C.for J.O. Cheatham Contractors, Inc.) in the back of the truck. The license number reads RE6006. A White 1994 LOWE Pontoon Boat with a blue stripe, a metal top and a trailer is also missing. The boat numbers are TX9619HL.

Law enforcement officials and volunteers have searched for Roland in the area surrounding Powell Park. The Texas Department of Public Safety troopers have flown over the area in a helicopter using a heat sensor but turned up nothing. Ground searches and underwater searches by divers have not turned up any leads. "We haven't found anything to lead us to foul play at this time," said law enforcement officials. Family members state that Bill is the type of guy that always calls if he's going to be late getting home or there's been a change of plans.

The sheriff's office is asking anyone with information on Roland's whereabouts to call them or the San Augustine Sheriff's office or Crimestoppers. Calls can be made anonymously. The number for the Angelina County Sheriff's office is  936-634-3331.

Angelina County sheriff's officials found what was left of Bill Roland's truck Wednesday night after teenagers stumbled upon the burned out hull of the vehicle. Deputies found the vehicle about 9:15 pm in a dense pine thicket about one half mile off Neal Road near FM 844 in Shawnee Prairie. It was the same vehicle Bill was seen in on Monday July 21st, said Capt. Doug Conn of the Angelina County Sheriff's office.

Roland has been missing since he went on a fishing trip to Powell Park in San Augustine County. The distance from Powell Park to where the truck was found is about 30 miles. The inside of the cab was totally destroyed by the fire, Conn said. There is nothing to indicate at this time foul play other than the fact someone burned the truck. The only item investigators found in the cab was a burned rifle under the back seat. Roland's cellular phone was not found, although it could have been in the vehicle and destroyed by the fire, Conn said. An ice chest was found in the bed of the truck, but missing was an orange ladder with the acronym J.O.C. which stands for J.O. Cheatham, a construction company in which Roland is vice president.The truck returned as registered to J.O. Cheatham Contractors.

Investigators know the truck was in the rugged brush more than a week because the teens who found it first saw it on July 23rd, Conn said. They rode by the rear of the vehicle on all-terrain vehicles but did not see the burned area and assumed someone was hunting or shooting targets in the woods. On Wednesday, the teens rode by the front of the truck and saw the burned area and notified lawmen.

The sheriff's office is asking anyone with information on Roland's whereabouts to call them or the San Augustine Sheriff's office or Crimestoppers. Calls can be made anonymously. The number for the Angelina County Sheriff's office is 936-634-3331.

Searchers with dogs turned up no new evidence in the case of a missing Lufkin businessman, and lawmen are still mulling clues found during a search last week. Last weekend searchers found tools that bill Roland carried in the back of his truck, near the area where his burned 1996 gray Chevrolet Z71 extended cab truck was found on July 30.

Texas Ranger Sgt. Don Morris said the tools, found in the same area as the truck, did not appear to have been there on July 31 when lawmen searched the area. "The tools did not appear to be there," he said. "They searched the same area, and they did not locate them that morning, and I'm assuming they were not there. We have no explanation why the tools were not there," Morris said. "They were not burned, so it kind of makes it even more fishy." Morris says lawmen still have no evidence of foul play or any indications that Roland might have left on his own intentions. He also said he has seen no evidence of any activity in Roland's checking and bank statements since his disappearance.

On Wednesday and Thursday, the Search 1 Rescue Team out of Richardson brought sniffing dogs to conduct searches of Roland's lake house and the thick grove of trees off Neal Road near FM 844 in Shawnee Prairie between Huntington and Zavalla where searchers found Roland's truck and tools. Morris said the searchers did not find any new evidence.

The sheriff's office is asking anyone with information on Roland's whereabouts to call them or the San Augustine Sheriff's office or Crimestoppers. Calls can be made anonymously. The number for the Angelina County Sheriff's office is 936-634-3331.

Searchers found what they beleive is the boat trailer last seen being pulled by Bill Roland on his way to his lake house in San Augustine County. The trailer was found hidden in a wooded area about 4 miles south of Broaddus off State 147 about mid-afternoon Saturday. According to a statement from San Augustine Sheriff John Cartwright, several riders on four-wheelers found the trailer. Officials were combing the area for more clues and could not be reached for further comment as of press time. The trailer was found about 20 miles away from where Roland was last seen on July 21 headed to his camp house at Powell Park.

The sheriff's office is asking anyone with information on Roland's whereabouts to call them or the San Augustine Sheriff's office or Crimestoppers. Calls can be made anonymously. The number for the Angelina County Sheriff's office is 936-634-3331.

East Texas lawmen found Bill Roland's boat Wednesday night, Oct 22, 1997, adding another twist to the mystery of the Lufkin businessman who has been missing for three months. The 1994 Lowe pontoon boat, which had what appeared to be gunshot holes in the pontoons, was discovered in a narrow cove off the Harvey Creek recreational area by Texas Rangers and lawmen from Angelina and San Augustine counties. Harvey Creek is located at the end of FM 2390 in San Augustine County.

A duck hunter installing a duck blind in the secluded slough saw the boat wedged underneath a willow tree. He notified authorities after he copied down the boat's registration number, Angelina County Sheriff Kent Henson said.

The top of the boat was missing and the pontoons had holes in them believed to be from either a gunshot or a large caliber shotgun, Henson said. "We are sure it's Bill's boat," Henson said. "The boat had been carefully placed under a willow tree, and you couldn't see it until you were right upon it." It took lawmen about three hours to unwedge the boat and tow it to Harvey Creek. They tagged it Wednesday night after they were notified and returned early Thursday to retrieve it from the murky inlet. From there, the boat is being sent to a crime lab in Montgomery County for analysis. There were no signs of foul play evident on the boat, Henson said. The boat's discovery is the latest in a string of clues related to the case.

Roland was last seen on July 21, when he went on a fishing trip to Powell Park in San Augustine County. About a week later, searchers found his burned 1996 Chevrolet Z71 extended cab truck in the woods in the Shawnee Prairie area between Huntington and Zavalla. About a week later, searchers found some of his tools in an area close to where the truck was found. Then, in mid August, searchers found the trailer to Roland's pontoon boat in a wooded area in San Augustine County about four miles south of Broaddus between State 147 and old State 147.

Several extensive searches have taken place throughout the dense forests of Angelina County. "We know that he is still missing and has not been found," said Don Morris, the Texas Ranger in charge of the case. "We are still lookin for him." Morris said his office does have a few leads it is checking on and it is continuing to investigate the case with the help of the Angelina and San Augustine sheriffs' offices.

The sheriff's office is asking anyone with information on Roland's whereabouts to call them or the San Augustine Sheriff's office or Crimestoppers. Calls can be made anonymously. The number for the Angelina County Sheriff's office is 936-634-3331.

A dive team discovered the awning to a missing Lufkin businessman's boat Wednesday, adding another clue to the six-month-old mystery of his disappearance. Texas Department of Public Safety divers located the awning to Bill Roland's pontoon boat about 3 p.m. Wednesday in Lake Sam Rayburn near the place where the boat was found Oct. 22 wedged underneath a willow tree in a secluded slough near Harvey Creek.

Texas Ranger Don Morris said divers have no plans to continue searching the lake. The investigation will continue, he said. Five divers were in the water for about an hour with metal detectors when they found the awning, Morris said. A search of the area turned up no further clues.

Finding the awning is the latest in a series of discoveries spread out over the last six months. Several extensive searches have taken place throughout the dense forests of Angelina County but Roland has yet to be found.

The sheriff's office is asking anyone with information on Roland's whereabouts to call them or the San Augustine Sheriff's office or Crimestoppers. Calls can be made anonymously. The number for the Angelina County Sheriff's office is 936-634-3331.