VEHICLE IN MISSISSIPPI RIVER IS EXPECTED TO BE RAISED TODAY

The Missouri State Water Patrol today plans to retrieve a vehicle found last week in the Mississippi River downstream from the Union Electric water plant pump station at Cape Girardeau.

Sgt. Carl Kinnison of the Cape Girardeau Police Department said Monday that the city was waiting for the water patrol to bring the equipment and personnel needed to retrieve the vehicle.

He said the vehicle might be a van reported stolen last week from Poplar Bluff.

"We also have a reason to believe that whoever forced the vehicle into the river also left in another vehicle," Kinnison said. "So it's a good possibility that there won't be a body in the vehicle when it's retrieved."

Authorities began searching the river last Thursday for a vehicle that apparently plunged into the river at the pump station near Cape Rock. Water patrol divers Friday found the vehicle wedged between rocks in about 25 feet of water, police said.

Hampered by strong current and poor visibility, the divers were unable to determine if the van was occupied.