Poplar Bluff man drowns

Poplar Bluff man drowns in in Black River

An 18-year-old Poplar Bluff man died Saturday when he drowned in Black River.

According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol report, James A. Muller was swinging from a rope into the water 1/4 of a mile south of County Road 608 in Butler County.

Muller began to struggle then submerged and did not resurface.

At 5:05 p.m. a report of a possible drowning in the Black River near the intersection of County Roads 608 and 611 was received. The Highway Patrol and its Marine Division searched the river north of the Dan River Access. A body was recovered and at 6:35 p.m. Butler County Coroner Andy Moore pronounced Muller dead.

Muller is the third drowning fatality in Troop E this year and the second in Black River after a 9-year-old Naylor boy died June 4 attempting to swim across the channel to an island north of the Highway 67 bridge.