I'm super confused why he didn't just send his GPS cords. If he had enough reception to send a text with a photo, he should have been able to get GPS, right? At the very least the tower he was connected to should have given his approximate location, right?

I don't know how to get my gps coords on my phone.

Install one one of these:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eclipsim.g...

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.android.gp...