Marsh family questions investigation of missing son, MCSO replies

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW)- Zachary Marsh, 19, has been missing since December 20, 2019, and his family and the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office are desperately looking for information concerning his wherabouts.

Despite the common goal, Erik Marsh, Zachary’s father, took to the  Find Zach Marsh Facebook, to talk about some things in the investigation that have led to frustration.

He wrote a post on Jan. 6, that said the family hired a private investigator, with the MCSO’s knowledge and a few things that happened that they felt compromised the integrity of the investigation.

“.…Yesterday with the assistance of a private investigator, which the sheriff’s office knows we as the family are working with, we’re able to (recover) a very important Google account. The “one”. Search history, location data, recovery account for other accounts, etc. Once in we find two things…

1) Got access to iCloud and found an active phone on the account with location tracking turned on yesterday…our eureka moment. But no. At some point the sheriff’s office had accessed the iCloud account without telling us and logged into it on one of their devices. And then the person with THAT phone decided to run their Sunday afternoon errands or whatever!!!!! Zach’s mom and I finally thought we had caught that break we had been, all of you had been, praying for…but nope. A wild goose chase. Crushed.

2) Apparently, they had access to this Google account since before Christmas and did not inform us… Not only did they not tell us, but instead of archiving the account to investigate the contents or cloning a hard drive…they have been logged in under the account poking around doing searches for things like how to do subpoenas, etc. On my son’s laptop, signed in under his account. Corrupting evidence. Creating false leads and trails for searches that are for their own purposes and not done by my son.

3) I still have not received or even seen the videos from where my son was seen prior to going missing. Have not even seen images of him captured from those videos. I would, of course, love to have these for personal reasons but to also pass along to y’all!

4) We have not been told what was in his car, or his license plate number (he got his new plate just a short time ago so I had yet to see it to memorize). Aren’t these things that could help especially if one of y’all spot his TN plate on another car driving whatever direction on any interstate?!? Being in just NCIC does no good on its own, especially if the plate may be on an unknown vehicle which no one knows to keep an eye out for. It feels as though my son’s case is either not a priority or has been predetermined to turn out a certain way and I don’t understand why. I don’t understand why we as a family are not being informed when things happen. I don’t understand why my son’s information and any potential evidence is not being handled properly and is instead being corrupted. I don’t understand why it took me, his father, to call the experts to request their help. I don’t understand.”

After talking to another media outlet, Erik clarified that while the family questions how the investigation has been handled, they are not mad at investigators.

“My anger and frustration regarding how my son’s data has been handled should in no way be interpreted to mean I am personally angry with the investigators. The family has met them all personally. They are nice people. They are GOOD people. And while I, we, maybe angry or frustrated I do believe they want to do everything they can to find our son. But that does not change the fact that mistakes have been made which shouldn’t have. It does not mean that events that have occurred, even though they may have been done with the best intentions, did not harm our family. Plain and simple.”

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office responded that they will continue to investigate the case with all the tools they have.

“As you can imagine emotions can run very high for family members in these circumstances and it can be very difficult to process and remember all the information that is provided,” said Sandra Brandon, spokeswoman for MCSO.” We let the family know we have been working with multiple agencies and companies on this case, including TBI, ROCIC, and mobile providers. They have provided assistance in many areas of the investigation to include tech support. As far as the online digital accounts, the family was made aware that as part of the investigation, our investigators would be accessing the account to see if there was any activity on the account. We will continue to utilize all the resources available to us and continue to strive for transparency with the family while protecting the integrity of the case.”

Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office has divers on stand-by ready to search the Cumberland River again when water conditions improve.

The family will be searching for Zach on Sunday, January 12 . The search will begin at Rotary Park at 9 a.m. and many volunteers are needed.

About Zachary Marsh 

Zachary Marsh
Age: 19
Height: 6’1”
Weight: 130 Lbs.
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Hazel Green
Wearing: Jeans and a Brown Jacket
Last seen: The Shell Gas Station at 204 White Bridge Road, Nashville area
Vehicle: A dark blue 2015 Chevrolet Sonic
This vehicle had a temporary spare tire mounted on the rear driver’s side of the car. The permanent tag was in the rear window of the car.