In a stunning development in the search for missing man Travis Turner, investigators revealed that his smartwatch — long believed to be offline since the day he vanished — suddenly received a strange, unexplained signal late last night.

According to police tech analysts, the device “activated for exactly 22 seconds,” sending out a location ping before going silent again. Authorities were able to trace the signal to a remote area several kilometers outside the original search perimeter.

But when officers reached the coordinates, what they found left them more confused than ever.

The location wasn’t a house, a cabin, or even a clearing. Instead, the signal originated from a small, abandoned utility tunnel entrance hidden behind overgrown brush. The tunnel, no longer listed on current county maps, appears to have been sealed years ago — yet the metal cover showed signs of fresh movement.

Inside the entrance, investigators discovered:

• A single muddy footprint, matching the tread pattern on Travis’s hiking boots

• The faint smell of engine oil, suggesting recent activity

• And a thin strip of fabric, snagged on the metal edge of the tunnel frame — the same color as the jacket Travis wore on the day he disappeared

Crucially, there was no smartwatch inside the tunnel.

The sudden activation raises several urgent questions:

• Did someone else turn on Travis’s smartwatch — and why only for 22 seconds?

• Was the device inside the tunnel at some point, or was the signal bounced intentionally from nearby?

• And if Travis was there, why does the trail stop so abruptly?

Authorities have expanded the search around the tunnel and brought in structural engineers to determine whether the interior is safe enough to explore further. Police describe the signal as “highly deliberate” and “not something that happens by accident.”

Investigators now fear that the smartwatch ping wasn’t a mistake — but a message.