LINCOLN - The search continued Thursday morning for an 18-year-old Lincoln man who went missing from a campsite Tuesday, but officials say they are running out of places to look. | Photo gallery

Search efforts for Billy Ray Eskew concentrated in the morning on a three-mile stretch of Salt Creek south of Lincoln, but rain forced the search teams to pull their boats from the water, said Dan Fulscher, Logan County Emergency Management Agency director.

The search on the creek is expected to resume Friday and continue at least through Sunday, Fulscher said. The various emergency-service agencies involved in the search meet each night to assess the situation, he added.

They already had stopped searched on land Thursday.

"We have saturated the area where he was last seen four or five times," Fulscher said of the land search. "That equates to about a 90 percent coverage rate, and once we get to that range, then there is really no need to keep going back. So you concentrate your efforts elsewhere."

Eskew was last seen about 7 a.m. Tuesday while camping with three friends near Sportsmen's Park and Salt Creek, south of Lincoln. The friends said that when they awoke again at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Eskew was gone.

He loves fishing, but his fishing equipment was still at the campsite, authorities said. He also left behind his cell phone and probably was on foot, the campers told authorities.

Authorities also said he missed a job interview as a result of his disappearance.

Family and friends spent much of Tuesday searching, and about 200 people searched a one-by-three-mile area Wednesday, but they found no clues, authorities said.

Logan County Sheriff Steve Nichols says there are no signs of foul play, but investigators will talk again with the friends he was camping with to see if there are any previously overlooked clues.

"We have the information about who he was camping with and we are going to verify that and proceed," he said.

"We just don't have much in the way of clues," he said. "If something comes up to indicate another ground search sweep is necessary, we will go ahead with another ground search."

The Logan County Sheriff's Department is in charge of the missing person case. The Logan County Emergency Management Agency is leading the search effort.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources will continue through Sunday to search Salt Creek with sonar equipment.

Eskew is described as a white, 6-foot-1 male who weighs around 200 pounds and has blondish brown hair, a goatee and blue eyes. At the time of his disappearance, he was wearing jeans and a red, hooded coat with white sleeves.

Billy Ray Eskew

Eskew has one course to finish at Salt Creek Academy in Athens, but was on course to graduate, said Terry Phillips, director at the school.

Friends and family members have not been available for comment.

Anyone with information about Eskew is asked to call the Logan County Sheriff's Department at (217) 732-4159.