A seven-day saga came to an end Sunday when the bodies of two Georgia firefighters were found in Tennessee, authorities said.
The Cocke County Sheriff’s Office and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) are looking into the deaths of Liberty County firefighters Raegan Anderson and Chandler Kuhbander, who were located Sunday morning along with Anderson’s vehicle in Cosby, Tennessee, according to Hinesville (Ga.) police. Cosby is about 20 miles from Gatlinburg in the Cherokee National Forest.
Anderson and Kuhbander were reportedly in a relationship but had broken up recently.
“Their bodies have been sent for an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death,” the TBI said.
The series of events started June 22, when Pooler police responded to a domestic disturbance at an Olive Garden restaurant in the coastal Georgia city, located just outside Savannah. According to WJCL, Anderson confronted Kuhbander as he was on a date inside the restaurant and later keyed his vehicle in the parking lot. She was arrested and charged with second-degree criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct.
Kuhbander, 25, later told his mother that Anderson had been “blowing up” his phone, the news station reported. On the morning of June 24, he was seen going to the gym at the Oglethorpe Mall in Savannah, but police said he never returned to his vehicle. At that time, Anderson’s car, a black 2017 Ford Focus with a firefighter logo on its license plate, was seen in surveillance footage driving through the parking lot, WJCL reported.
After the firefighters were reported missing the next day, police in Hinesville informed the public about their disappearance and asked for help locating them. According to Kuhbander’s mother, the family last spoke with him at 11:19 a.m. June 25 and they were last seen in Cosby that evening.
Police shared a photo of Anderson and Kuhbander, along with the Ford Focus.
“She is a danger to herself and he is believed to not be with her willingly!!!” Jane Kuhbander wrote on Facebook on June 26.
The Cocke sheriff’s office said it will release more information once the Knoxville Forensics Center completes the autopsies. No other details were provided by authorities about what led to the deaths. In a statement, Hinesville police expressed their condolences to the families “during this incredibly difficult time.”
Jane Kuhbander said her son worked hard as a firefighter, but “loved even harder.” After his death, she pleaded for others to hold their family members tightly and never leave without an “I love you.”
“My son was amazing,” Kuhbander told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “He never wanted to see anyone sad or suffering. I want people to take away that men are victims, too. Be a voice for the voiceless! He wouldn’t want this tragedy to be for nothing.”
