says the sheriff's department told him specially trained dogs lost his scent near a creek. >> if alfred's body is there, it's incredible, actually unimaginable to me that dogs would not have found his body. >> reporter: tom maddox is sheriff of sabine county, on scene during the search. >> he just showed me the circumference of the area. he showed me that this circular piece here had been searched. he also told me numerous times that if he was in the area, that they would find him. >> reporter: the sheriff's daughter and alfred wright were apparently friendly and knew each other through their health care jobs, so it came as a surprise to the wrights when, after four days, without warning, the sheriff abruptly called off the search, telling the family -- >> your son's just a missing person. my guys are tired. we've exhausted our resources and funds. we're done. >> reporter: done with the search and done with any investigation. the wrights say the sheriff concluded there was no foul play, even taking it a step