WJHL – SUGAR GROVE (WJHL) - One week after state and federal investigators issued an Amber Alert for 14-year-old Hayleigh Wilson from Hawkins County, Tennessee, her father says he still has hope she will come home.
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"I want her to know that I love her and Hayleigh bug, I want you home," Hayleigh's dad Eddie Wilson said.
Hayleigh was last seen with convicted sex offender Benjamin Shook.
Since the Amber Alert was issued, investigators have discovered surveillance video of Shook with Hayleigh. They have also recovered the truck they were in, but still no Hayleigh or Shook.
Wilson said he now clings to pictures of his missing daughter and his faith.
"Sometimes things happen and we question God," Wilson said. "But you know through this here, this gives me more strength to rely on him. You know, he says come to me and I'll bear all your burdens. You know, he will, if we just let him."
It is a heavy burden for any parent to bear, his14-year-old daughter, missing, last seen with a sex offender.
"You have hatred, you have caring, you have sadness, I mean there's just so many emotions. You just feel like you're in that nightmare wishing it would end, but it's just not ending," Wilson said.
Police said convicted sex offender Benjamin Shook met Hayleigh online before she went missing.
"He had her fooled for a long time," Wilson said. "I want Hayleigh to know that it's not her fault. She just made a mistake, you know as anybody can, anybody can make a mistake. But I just want her to know, I don't blame her for nothing…I want her to know that she's going to be welcomed home with open arms from her daddy."
He said this past week he's been anxiously waiting that moment, glued to the news as more information comes in about the search for his daughter.
He said one night he started begging and pleading with God, "I said God I need some comfort."
Wilson said he felt convicted to pray for Shook.
"I said Lord that's hard to do, to pray for the man that's got my daughter. He said yeah but you got to. When I got my heart humble enough to where I could pray for him I turned over and looked at the TV…I looked and there the picture was in that store, it was just complete comfort, peace come over, and she's still alive," Wilson said.
The picture in the store he is talking about was a surveillance video investigators discovered of Hayleigh and Shook in a convenience store in Virginia after Hayleigh went missing.
Wilson said each sighting of Hayleigh gives him glimmers of hope.
"Just keep praying, pray that God is going to lead little Hayleigh home," Wilson said
Searching for Hayleigh
Meanwhile, the Smyth County Sheriff's Office has set up a command post in Sugar Grove, Virginia to search for Hayleigh Wilson.
Monday marked the one week since the 14-year-old disappeared. Investigators believe, after meeting the teen in a chat room, 41-year-old convicted sex offender Benjamin Shook lured Hayleigh out of her home.
Lieutenant Bill Eller with the Smyth County Sheriff's Office said, since Thursday night, multiple volunteer agencies have been searching the Jefferson National Forest, East of Virginia State Route 16 towards Troutdale.
"It is a very large combined effort in the search. It's taxing on a small department, that's why we've got all these other resources that have come in and they've been a great help," Eller said.
Since the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation got involved, the tip line has been ringing off the hook.
"A vast, vast array of information has come in," Eller said.
But all of those tips have turned into dead ends.
"We've not been able to confirm any of the tips that have come in," Eller said.
Hayleigh and Shook were last seen on Wednesday at an Exxon gas station in Sugar Grove.
"Without new information, we have to continue with the search in that area," Eller said.
Search teams are working around the clock, with some groups of rescue volunteers working 14 hour shifts.
"We have searched the majority of the forest in the search radius and we're going to be starting to go back through that area again just to make sure we haven't missed anything," Eller said.
And although hope often runs thin as time rolls on, Lt. Eller said search crews are staying strong, and are determined to bring Hayleigh home.
"We have no reason to think at this point that any harm has come to her other than weather conditions. We are still actively searching to rescue her from this child predator," Eller said.
The Smyth County Sheriff's Office tells us they are following up on and urging people who may have spotted either Wilson or Shook to call 1.877.WANTED2.