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Country singer Craig Strickland found dead

By Ana Cabrera and Jason Hanna, CNN

Updated 12:54 PM ET, Tue January 5, 2016

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Story highlights

  • Craig Strickland went missing during a duck hunting trip in Oklahoma late last month
  • His hunting companion, Chase Morland, was found dead last week
  • Strickland's six-member Backroad Anthem formed in Arkansas in 2012

(CNN)Country music singer Craig Strickland has been found dead more than a week after he went missing in a powerful winter storm, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said Monday.

Strickland, a 29-year-old vocalist in the country rock band Backroad Anthem, was duck hunting with his friend Chase Morland late last month at Oklahoma's Kaw Lake as a fierce winter weather system was hitting central portions of the country, the band said.

    Rain, sleet and snow pelted the area, with wind gusts of up to 45 mph and wind chills as low as 15 degrees Fahrenheit. Morland acknowledged the danger in a haunting tweet December 26.

    "In case we don't come back, @BackroadCRAIG and I are going right through Winter Storm Goliath to kill ducks in Oklahoma. #IntoTheStorm."

    Morland's body was found two days later. The friends' boat had apparently overturned, and Strickland's dog was found alive.

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    Morland's cause of death was determined to be drowning due to a capsized boat, coupled with exposure, the Oklahoma Chief Medical Examiner's office said.

    In a Facebook post Monday, the band said Strickland appeared to have "fought his way from the water to a hill and was lying in the shape of a cross on his back."

    Strickland's six-member Backroad Anthem formed in Arkansas in 2012.

    Floods, tornado hit Southern states
    8 photos:
    Emergency officials in Moulton, Alabama, transport James Simmons by boat on December 25 after flooding prevented them from reaching him any other way. Unseasonably warm weather helped spawn severe storms Friday after violent storms in the Southeast left dozens of families homeless on Christmas Eve.
    8 photos:
    Emergency officials in Moulton, Alabama, transport James Simmons by boat on December 25 after flooding prevented them from reaching him any other way. Unseasonably warm weather helped spawn severe storms Friday after violent storms in the Southeast left dozens of families homeless on Christmas Eve.
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    Gregory Shuford, left, and Terease Shuford check out the flooding in their west Montgomery, Alabama, neighborhood, on Christmas morning Friday, December 25. The line of severe storms continued marching eastward, dumping torrential rain that flooded roads in Alabama and caused a mudslide in the mountains of Georgia.
    8 photos:
    Gregory Shuford, left, and Terease Shuford check out the flooding in their west Montgomery, Alabama, neighborhood, on Christmas morning Friday, December 25. The line of severe storms continued marching eastward, dumping torrential rain that flooded roads in Alabama and caused a mudslide in the mountains of Georgia.
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    A vehicle drives along a flooded section of Hayneville Road in west Montgomery, Alabama, on Christmas morning.
    8 photos:
    A vehicle drives along a flooded section of Hayneville Road in west Montgomery, Alabama, on Christmas morning.
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    A man walks near downtown Atlanta in the rain on Thursday, December 24. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal declared a state of emergency in three north Georgia counties amid the strong storms.
    8 photos:
    A man walks near downtown Atlanta in the rain on Thursday, December 24. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal declared a state of emergency in three north Georgia counties amid the strong storms.
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    A vehicle drives through a flooded street as a record-breaking downpour continued in Avondale Estates, Georgia, on Thursday.
    8 photos:
    A vehicle drives through a flooded street as a record-breaking downpour continued in Avondale Estates, Georgia, on Thursday.
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    Trista Boga, center, helps salvage what she can from a friend's home along Highway 178 in Holly Springs, Mississippi, on Thursday. At least 14 people were killed in Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas as spring-like storms mixed with unseasonably warm weather and spawned rare Christmastime tornadoes in the South.
    8 photos:
    Trista Boga, center, helps salvage what she can from a friend's home along Highway 178 in Holly Springs, Mississippi, on Thursday. At least 14 people were killed in Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas as spring-like storms mixed with unseasonably warm weather and spawned rare Christmastime tornadoes in the South.
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    Vehicles and debris are scattered near Linden, Tennessee, on Thursday after a tornado charged through, leaving a trail of destruction.
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    Vehicles and debris are scattered near Linden, Tennessee, on Thursday after a tornado charged through, leaving a trail of destruction.
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    A person carries their dry cleaning while walking in the rain through midtown Atlanta on Wednesday, December 23. In parts of Georgia, including Atlanta, a flood watch was posted through Friday evening, the National Weather Service said.
    8 photos:
    A person carries their dry cleaning while walking in the rain through midtown Atlanta on Wednesday, December 23. In parts of Georgia, including Atlanta, a flood watch was posted through Friday evening, the National Weather Service said.
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    08 severe weather 122503 severe weather 122507 severe weather december01 severe weather 122502 severe weather 1225 RESTRICTED05 severe weather 122506 severe weather 122504 severe weather 1225

    News of the ill-fated trip spread through the music industry. Musician Tyler Rich recounted on Facebook that he and Strickland were sitting at a Nashville bar about two months ago, talking about "how excited we were to see what each of us would be able to accomplish in 2016."

    "Just know we're praying for you brother and know there's still hope you'll be found," Rich's post reads.

    Morland, of Van Buren, Arkansas, had worked at a Gellco Outdoors hunting supply store in Arkansas.

    "Chase lost his life in a duck hunting accident in Ponca City, Ok," a post on the business's Facebook page reads. "Our prayers and sympathy go out to the Morland family during this time of loss. We ask all of our customers to remember this family at this time."

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    CNN's AnneClaire Stapleton, Brandon Miller, Joshua Berlinger and Sarah Aarthun contributed to this report.