William Kent of Asheville, NC was among a group of students from the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine in North Carolina visiting the island during a field trip when a fellow student noticed he was missing. Kent's cell phone, wallet and bag were found by a sand dune toward the southern end of the island. The park staff, the S. C. Department of Natural Resources, the Coast Guard and the Beaufort Water Search and Rescue Squadron conducted daily searches along the beach, but the initial searches have since ended.