DAUPHIN ISLAND, Ala. (WALA) – The fourth day of the search for little Hunter Slezak has once again come to a disappointing end.

The seven-year-old and the boat he was on with his father and friend are still nowhere to be found.

Several agencies are urgently searching on land, sea and air.

The command post nearby, filled with people with one mission: to find Hunter.

“The mother wants her son to get well so she can say a proper goodbye,” Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch said.

Boats, ATVs and horses were used in today’s search. Volunteers even came to help in any way they could.

“It just touched me and I decided to do it,” said a volunteer from Semmes. “I have a boat, I have the skills and we will try and hope to get his mother some closure.”

On Friday, the little boy went shrimping near Pelican Bay with his father, Michael Slezak, and Sam Wooley in a 22-foot boat named the Marty Ann.

That night, the three boaters were nowhere to be found. That’s when law enforcement, search and rescue teams and the U.S. Coast Guard began a frantic search.

Slezak, who was a baseball coach at Semmes Middle School, and Wooley, a Vietnam veteran, husband and grandfather, were both found dead over the weekend south of Dauphin Island.

Kennedie OIson, a family friend of the Slezaks, told me that she holds on to the memories of the father and son.

“He’s the sweetest little boy,” Olson said. “He and my little sister are about the same age, so they were always arguing, like they were getting on each other’s nerves or something. I also have a younger brother and Hunter always looked up to him. He was like a second father to me. He and my dad were very close, he was a baseball coach and was always willing to help someone no matter what.”

As the search continues, family and friends of the Slezaks and Wooleys are praying for peace.

Olson said she finds comfort in knowing they are getting better.

“Well, I just know they’re in heaven,” she said. “One day we will all be together again and be able to see her again. That’s what keeps me going.”

MCSO will restart the search at 6 a.m. tomorrow

Volunteers are welcome and must call (251) 574-2423.

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