Fire crews, barge crewmen locate floating body on Mississippi River

Cape Girardeau firefighters were dispatched to assist the Scott City Fire Department with a body recovery operation at 8:47 a.m. Tuesday near mile marker 47 on the Mississippi River.

[CLICK TO ENLARGE] This illustration combines U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Navigational Chart No. 149 and 150 to form a map of Upper Mississippi River river miles 41 to 54.

Swift water rescue teams launched marine vessels at the Southeast Missouri Port Authority in Scott City, near mile marker 48, and at the Red Star River Access in Cape Girardeau, near mile marker 53, according to an incident report prepared by Cape Girardeau fire Capt. Andy Matthews.

Crew members of Florida Marine Transportation towing vessel David Goin had located the body and waved down one of the rescue teams.

“Two crewmen from this barge had the floating body on a hook on the side of a barge in the water,” the report stated. “It was obvious the victim was deceased and had been for an amount of time due to the decomposition of the body.”

Rescue teams positioned their vessels against the barge to form a triangle around the victim and recover the body, according to the report. Fire crews cleared the scene at 10:06 a.m. and the incident was investigated by the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff’s Office.

According to the Cape Girardeau County Coroner’s Office, an autopsy of the victim was completed Wednesday by forensic pathologist Russell Deidiker in Farmington, Missouri.

Cape Girardeau County Sheriff Ruth Ann Dickerson said the death is believed to be a suicide.