Zach Koch.jpg

Zach Koch's friends reported him missing Sunday, March 20, 2016, saying he was last seen Saturday night.

(Facebook)

State troopers confirmed this evening that Zach Koch was killed in a single-vehicle crash at 4 a.m. on Sunday, March 20, on Tuscaloosa County 10, about nine miles south of Tuscaloosa.

Koch had been the focus of a search since friends and family reported him missing late Saturday night or early Sunday morning in the Forest Lake area.

Troopers are continuing their investigation.

Earlier, Koch's brother, confirmed his brother's death on social media.

I don't understand why but the Lord has taken my brother from us to be with him and while i will always feel a pit in my... Posted by Justin Koch on Monday, March 21, 2016

Updates on this story are here

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Zach Koch, 25, was last seen late Saturday night or early Sunday morning in the Forest Lake area, according to police and posts from Koch's friends on Facebook. Tuscaloosa police spokesman Lt. Teena Richardson said a missing person's report was filed with the agency at 11:22 p.m. Sunday after friends went to his home and were unable to find him.

Friends have posted on Facebook that they have tried to call him repeatedly but his phone is dead. They have not been able to find him at any hospital or jail in Alabama, they said. "For those of you who do not know Zach Koch, this is highly abnormal behavior for him to take off without letting anyone know,'' one friend wrote.

Koch drives a gray Mustang. According to his LinkedIn profile, he is the director of publications at the Education Policy Center at the University of Alabama.His sister-in-law, Charlee Koch, said Koch graduated from UA in December and was now working for a technology company.

She said he had been at some bars in downtown Tuscaloosa Saturday night and got a ride home. He then texted his girlfriend at 2:30 a.m. Sunday and was going to see her at a friend's house on Union Chapel Road. He was having trouble finding the home, so his girlfriend texted him a map, his sister-in-law said.

Koch never showed up at the friend's house, she said. His girlfriend called him repeatedly beginning at 5 a.m. and the phone kept ringing. By 9 a.m., Koch's phone was dead.

According to family, Koch's car was spotted on Sunday along Rice Mine Road at or near an assisted living facility. A police officer saw it, and said it looked abandoned, but there had been no report filed on Koch yet. The officer checked on the car later, and it was gone, according to Koch's sister-in-law.

His family is beyond worried. "It's extremely unlike him,'' Charlee Koch said. "They have a very close knit group of friends and for them to not know anything is unusual. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense."

Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or the Tuscaloosa Police Department