Search for reported jumper enters third day

Rescuers are dragging portions of the river from Cape Girardeau to Thebes, Ill.

By Linda Redeffer ~ Southeast Missourian

The Cape Girardeau Fire Department rescue crew and the Missouri Water Patrol searched the Mississippi River again Thursday looking for the body of a man who reportedly jumped off the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge Wednesday afternoon.

"There are two craft on the river, and we expect it to continue the rest of the week," said assistant fire chief Mark Hasheider.

The two agencies are looking in areas in the river where debris has accumulated, Hasheider said, searching an area that extends from the bridge to Thebes, Ill. They are dragging in some areas, he said, and conducting surface searches.

Because of the amount of debris on the river, Hasheider said, there is no telling how long it will take before a body is recovered.

The U.S. Coast Guard also has been notified.

"We'll put the word out to barge lines up and down the river, and other law enforcement agencies will be on the lookout," Hasheider said.

He said no new witnesses have come forward with any information since the incident occurred.

The only witness at this point is Ken Van Winkle of Cape Girardeau, who told police he was crossing the bridge from the Illinois side about 3 p.m. Wednesday when he saw a man who appeared to be angry and distraught standing on the ledge yelling. Van Winkle said he parked his truck on the shoulder of the bridge and ran toward the man hoping to try to keep him from jumping. Van Winkle said when he called out, the man looked at him, looked down at the river and stepped off the bridge. Van Winkle said he did not see him hit the water.

Police spokesman Jason Selzer said it is not unusual to have a single witness because this bridge is wider than the old bridge across the Mississippi.

"It depends on whether people were paying attention," he said. "People may not be as focused on the side as they used to be. If someone was walking on the side of the old bridge, you worried that you were going to hit him."

The new bridge, he said, has wider ledges on the side, and people are not as visible as they would have been on the older, narrower bridge.

"People are not as concerned with people walking across the bridge these days," he said.

Selzer said no one has been reported missing locally.

Authorities from the U.S. Marshals Service showed Van Winkle a photo of a suspect they had been pursuing Wednesday morning. Van Winkle said that while the man he saw looked like the photo, he could not be 100 percent sure and could not make a positive identification.

Cape Girardeau police Lt. Roger Fields said federal authorities are still looking for their suspect and have not ruled out the possibility that the man who jumped from the bridge is the man they're searching for.

"We have no idea what we have," Fields said. "We're still looking."

lredeffer@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160