PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — The family of 33-year-old Derrick Fluellen is deeply saddened as the search continues for him.
They want to believe there is some explanation.
They want the body to be recovered before they believe the worse.
Fluellen was working fire watch onboard the Atlantic Oceanic, tied up at the Portsmouth Marine Terminal. The 250-foot long vessel has been used to help install Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore wind project.
Fluellen went missing Saturday afternoon, His girlfriend, Danyale Benn, last heard from him at 10:30 in the morning.
“When I did pick up, it was like, I’m at work. I need you to come pick me up from work when I get off,” Benn said. “I asked him, ‘What time you get off?’ He said he didn’t know just yet, but he was going to call me and let me know when.”
At 3:30 p.m., Benn texted him.
“Do you know what time you’re getting off,” her text read.
He never responded.
“Nearly 30 minutes later, his aunt called me saying that the Coast Guard came to his grandma’s house, and he is missing,” Benn said.
Benn added: “They told us they only had cameras going in and out, not cameras on the boat, and Fluellen was only seen coming on the terminal property.”
Then, investigators came to the home Tuesday to get Fluellen’s clothing for a search dog.
“They came and got a t-shirt, a sock, and a sweatshirt to give the dog a scent of him so when they search the vessel they will pull up on the scent,” Benn said.
Derrick Fluellen’s mother, Earlisa Fluellen, said she doesn’t want to hear anything until her son is found.
“I feel in my heart he is suffering,” Earlisa Fluellen said. “I’m not going to get any rest. And I get no closure, and I want some positive truth out of this. Don’t sugarcoat with me. Don’t say anything to me. You only call me when you recover a body.”