Searchers find Chaffee man's body on banks of Mississippi River north of Diversion Channel

On Saturday morning, Cape Girardeau firefighters found the body of a man missing since falling into the Mississippi River after a boating accident Wednesday night.

The body of Gregory Jobe, 39, of Chaffee, Mo., was spotted on the bank of the river around 9:20 a.m. by the fire department's water rescue team, battalion chief Brian Shaffer said.

For the previous two days, the fire department had a unit searching the 30- to 45-foot depths near where the fishing boat Jobe and his brother had been in capsized.

Crews ended the search at dusk Friday and picked up where they left off around 8 a.m. Saturday, Shaffer said. The team had been out on the water for a little more than an hour, went as far as Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority and were heading back up the river when they found Jobe's body on the Missouri side of the bank just north of the Diversion Channel.

Family members were notified and gathered at the Red Star boat dock as firefighters brought Jobe's body to shore.

Cape Girardeau County Coroner John Clifton used tattoos and several items still in Jobe's possession to confirm his identity, Shaffer said.

Jobe and his brother, Shawn, had been fishing along the bank of the river just south of the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge when one of the barges shifted in the water, blocking their path back to Cape La Croix Creek.

They tried to maneuver around the barge but collided with it, and the boat they were in was were sucked under the 200-foot-long vessel.

When they surfaced, Shawn Jobe managed to hold onto a cable and keep from being swept away by the current but was unable to reach his brother.

The crew on another barge that happened to be nearby rescued Shawn Jobe, who suffered minor injuries.

The Jobes' johnboat was found the following morning near the SEMO Port.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245