May 19, 2013

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Reporter: WTAP News

UPDATE: Divers Find Body Of Missing Swimmer

UPDATE: 7/24/2012 11:07 AM

The family of the 21 year old drowning victim has set up a memorial fund in his name. The fund is set up at any People's Bank location in Benjamin Miller's name.

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UPDATE: 7/23/2012 5:30 PM

Dive teams found the body of Benjamin Miller the morning after he disappeared while swimming.

The 21 year old was swimming in the Muskingum River with friends near the Devola Dam around 5:00pm Sunday.

"There's guys in the middle of the river. There's four guys standing there and that's where they say the guy went down. They said he couldn't swim and I'm like 'what is he doing down there.' The water wasn't that deep and they went up too far and the guy went down," a caller to 911 says.

21 year old Benjamin Miller was swimming with friends near the Devola Dam. It's deep. The current is fast. It drug them all down, but Miller never made it out.

"They tried to get him but I think the current took him too far," the caller says.

"This is an unfortunate situation. As a matter of fact we've been told that the young man did not know how to swim and he was trying to come across the river and hit a spot that was deeper than him," Washington County Sheriff Larry Mincks explains.

Divers found his body the next morning not far from where he went under.

"We had cadaver dogs dogs down and the body was actually found about 50 yards from where the two cadaver dogs hit," Sheriff Mincks adds. The dogs were from a volunteer organization called Midwest K9 Search Unit.

The dogs led the Williamstown Fire Department to the area, using their sonar system to further locate the exact location of the body in the river.

"When you're working in an area the size of the river you have to do it in grids and once we were able to locate an area, the divers did their job and we were able to go back over there to help them," says firefighter Paul Jordan.

The fire department purchased the system a few years ago and it has proved to be very useful in cases like this.

"In the past the picture wasn't as successful but this time with the right navigation, we scanned the area several, several times and got the same picture every time. This weekend, I feel bad for the family that lost a loved one, but this was a learning experience for us and the Marietta Dive Team knowing our capabilities now it was a learning experience for both departments," firefighter Troy Phillips adds.

"In this case here there was a clear outline of a body. We knew when we passed it what it was. Finding it again was kinda difficult because of the current and different locations as the darkness came in. There's an island close to there we had to get around. This morning when we got there we saw it again and it was clear on the screen."

The deep water and strong currents of this area played factors in Miller's drowning, and now police are warning people to be careful when swimming in this part of the river.

"We have had other incidences in this area of people drowning and there's a lot of people that do come up here to swim and I'd like for them to enjoy the facilities that are here but I would certainly recommend that they wear a life jacket," says Sheriff Mincks.

Sheriff Mincks says drugs and alcohol are most likely not factors in the drowning. He says it's most likely the fact the swimmers didn't know how deep the water was, and that Miller couldn't keep up with the currents.

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UPDATE: 11:30am 07/23/2012

Dive teams found the body of Benjamin Miller.

The 21 year old disappeared while swimming in the Muskingum River near the Devola Dam around 5:00pm Sunday night.

The body was found at 10:45 Monday morning by a diver from Marietta. Cadaver dogs & the Williamstown Fire Department's sonar system assisted in the location of the swimmer.

The body will now go to the Montgomery County Coroner's Office.

Washington County Sheriff Larry Mincks says drugs and alcohol are not suspected and that Miller may not have been able to swim.


ORIGINAL STORY

Dive teams are searching for a missing 21 year old man after he got caught in a current while swimming.

It happened around 5:00 Sunday evening right below the Devola Dam in the Muskingum River.

Officials say four people were swimming from an island to the shore.

One swimmer, 21 year old Benjamin Miller got caught in the current and is missing. They say the swimmers were not wearing life jackets.

The Marietta Search and Rescue Dive Team is searching for the man. The Devola and Oak Grove Volunteer Fire Departments are assisting.

Authorities are treating this as a possible drowning.

No further information is being released at this time.

We have a reporter on scene and will bring you the latest on WTAP and WTAP.com as it becomes available.


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