Ashley Flowers

He called his mom.

That call woke Jennifer and Gil up, but they were glad that it did because their son was asking for help.

Tripp told them that the police got his four-wheeler and asked if they could come pick him up.

And the way he said it didn't make it seem like police were chasing him or anything.

Maybe he downplayed it the way that like teenagers do.

But all Jennifer was hearing was that he was stranded and needed a ride.

So she was in the process of telling him that they would get dressed, they would head over.

And that's when Gil's phone started ringing.

And on the other end of his line was a deputy that he knew named Jason Bradshaw.

And Bradshaw was asking if Tripp was home, said that he and some other guys from the department were out there looking for him.

And I think maybe this is when the pieces started to click into place more.

And honestly, whatever was happening, this felt like a good thing since Gil knew Bradshaw.

Tripp knew Bradshaw, too.

So Gil took Jennifer's phone and told Tripp, listen, Bradshaw is out there.

If you want to just go turn yourself in, go ahead.

So that was the plan.

Wherever Trip was in the woods, he said that he could see the blue lights from the deputy's vehicles.

He said that he was going to start walking up the hill to turn himself in.

And his parents could see his location from the Find My app, and they said that they were going to meet him there.

And they actually wanted him to stay on the phone with them, but Trip said that his phone was almost out of battery, and so they hung up.