Fayetteville musician, friend missing after hunting trip

Craig Strickland / Photo: Kristina Thomas

A Fayetteville musician and his friend are missing after a hunting trip in Oklahoma over the weekend.

Craig Strickland, singer of Fayetteville band Backroad Anthem, and his friend Chase Morland of Van Buren, went duck hunting on Kaw Lake near Ponca City, Oklahoma, on Sunday, Dec. 27.

According to a Facebook post made on the band’s page, the two haven’t been in contact with their families for over 24 hours.

From the Facebook post:

As some of you may know at this point yesterday early morning about 2 am Craig Strickland & his good friend Chase Morland headed out to go duck hunting. We received a text last night from Randy Strickland asking us band members to pray for Craig and Chase, because they had not made any kind of contact with families in 24 hours. We do know they issued a search party which ended last night about 2 am, and that they were resuming the search party this morning at 6:30 am. We are asking all fans to please pray for Craig & Chase to be found safe and sound. Please also pray for Craigs family, his wife, and for us band members. We love you guys and we appreciate your ever loving support for our dream.

Tulsa World reported that the missing hunters’ boat was found capsized just after midnight early Monday morning, but that Strickland and Moreland hadn’t been found.

Oklahoma was the scene of massive storms that brought heavy rain, snow and ice to the north part of the state through the weekend. According to the report, a Winter Weather Advisory is still in effect for Kay County where the two went missing.

Update: Tuesday, Dec. 29 According to reports, Moreland’s body was found on Monday. The search for Strickland continues on Tuesday.