BODY MAY BE THAT OF COMMERCE MAN

A man's body retrieved from the Mississippi River Tuesday evening could be that of a missing Commerce, Mo., man, authorities believe.

A positive identification had not been made Tuesday night, the body is believed to be that of Ricky Wright of Commerce. An identification is expected by noon today.

As of late Tuesday there was no physical description or information that might help identify a body, said John Clifton, deputy coroner for Cape Girardeau County. Wright's family members were expected to obtain dental records that might help in the process, he said.

"Any information they can give about scars or tattoos or fillings or missing teeth, just anything that would narrow it down," would make the identification process easier, Clifton said.

If the body is not identified by Wright's family, then the coroner's office will send inquiries to other communities where people are suspected to be missing in the river. At least one man in the St. Louis area is believed to have drowned in the river.

"There are all types of scenarios, and I like to be on firm ground before we make any identification," Clifton said.

Wright, 42, has been missing since July 1 when a boat he was driving on the Mississippi River ran out of a gas, hit a barge and capsized north of Cape Girardeau near a dredging operation. Four other people on the boat -- a man, two women and an 11-year-old boy -- were rescued shortly after the late-night accident.

Firefighters and Missouri Water Patrol officials had searched five days for Wright's body. The search ended Friday.

Family members and friends have been awaiting word. They waited at Honker's Boat Club around the clock last week while authorities continued searching along the shore.

Teresa Jaco waited beside the Mississippi River floodwall at Themis and Water streets Tuesday evening while firefighters and rescue personnel retrieved the body. She had been aboard the boat when it capsized.

More than 20 people gathered at the gate at 7 p.m. to see what was happening but had to stay behind yellow caution tape that had been stretched over the entry.

Tears streamed down Jaco's face as she watched a barge maneuver close to the river's edge so that rescue crews could bring the body, covered by a blue tarp, to shore.

She told police detectives that she wanted to see whether the body was that of her friend. "I want to look at it and see if it's Ricky," she said.

Lt. John Brown of the Cape Girardeau Police Department advised her against it. "What you see here will stay with you," he said. "You won't see him as you remembered."

She sobbed as rescue personnel took the body to the coroner's van. Brown asked her several questions about scars and clothing that might help identify the body as Wright's.

Wright loved the river, she said. He was out on the water fishing every possible weekend "unless it was raining," she said. "He was fun to be around."

Jaco tried several times to reach Wright's family in Commerce but could only leave messages.

Tim Everett, who also was with Wright when the boat capsized, had hoped that finding the body would put an end to the family's pain. "We are starting to piece our lives together, but the family needs closure," he said.

Other bodies that have been retrieved from the river have only "gotten their hopes up," Everett said.

Wright had a teen-age son, and "it's hard for me to explain why I'm here and his dad is out there," he said.

Everett had been working downtown when he heard that a body had been spotted in the river.

Crewmen on a passing barge, the S.R. Chicago, heading upstream spotted the body and contacted the U.S. Coast Guard aboard the USS Chippewa that was docked downtown. Coast Guard crews then contacted police. A crews on the Coal Express also helped pull the body from the water.

By the time firefighters retrieved the body it had floated about one-half mile downriver but had yet to reach the Mississippi River bridge.