MILLWOOD — A frustrating search for a man reported missing in the Kokosing River last week, may have all been the result of a prank call. The anonymous 9-1-1 call came into the Knox County 9-1-1 center around 7 p.m. The Eastern Knox County Joint Fire District responded to a report of a victim who had gone under the water, and not been seen again. The caller said the man had been tubing on the river with a group, and was last seen near Stull Road.
According to EKCJFD Capt. Brian Durbin, who served as the incident commander during the search, nine firefighters searched for over three hours, assisted by the Knox County Sheriff’s Office and the Danville Police Department. Durbin said two EKCJFD squads, a rescue vehicle, and a technical trailer all responded.
Dispatchers contacted the cell phone carrier of the mobile phone from which the call was placed, to pinpoint its location. Durbin said when the phone company determined about 45 minutes later that the call had been made from a cell phone registered in Newcastle, the information raised even more questions.
The caller said after searching for about an hour for their friend, he and his friends had left, and did not wait for help because they had been drinking.
“The urgency got away some when we found out they had actually called from Newcastle,” Durbin said. “We had so many unknowns. If we’re going to direct our resources, we need to know more information so we know where to direct those resources.”
Durbin said the KCSO coordinated with the Coshocton and Holmes county sheriffs’ departments to try to find the location of the caller, and determine whether or not the call was genuine.
Knox County Sheriff David Barber said deputies in Coshocton County went to the cell phone subscriber’s door, but no one was home. They tried later in the evening, but again found no one home.
Barber said the entire incident bore troubling similarities to a similar call eight years ago, near the same place on the Kokosing River near Millwood. The sheriff said that search ended tragically. Young people who had been drinking and lost contact with one of their friends in the river, left the scene before calling for help. Their friend drowned.
“They drove to Newark to call 9-1-1 and tell the young man’s father they couldn’t find him,” Barber remembered. “By the time we got the call it was 10 or 11 o’clock, and too dark to search. We found him the next afternoon.”
“That was our fear when we got this call,” Barber said.
The firefighters searched about five miles of the river, from Sapp and Stull roads, downstream to the campground in Millwood. Three firefighters in kayaks searched on the river.
Durbin said the firefighters moved their command downstream as the kayaks traveled. The rescue personnel had ropes and dive equipment ready should it be needed.
Once darkness forced the search to suspend until morning, the team left frustrated not knowing if a victim remained missing, or if the call had been a misunderstanding or hoax. “There were still a lot of questions,” Durbin said. “We left it open until daylight, or until more information came in.”
The EKCJFD contacted the sheriff’s office early the next morning. “We wanted to make sure we didn’t need to go back out there, that no one was actually missing,” Durbin said.
Durbin said because so much of the department’s resources, including several volunteers, were tied up on the call, they would have needed to request mutual aid from another department if another call had come in at the same time.
Barber said the mix of alcohol and river activities is extremely dangerous. “People who have been drinking have no business in the water,” he said.
Adding that alcohol clouds judgment in this kind of situation, Barber said he wants people to understand if they ever feel someone’s life is in danger, they should never hesitate to call for help for fear of getting into trouble.
“They should absolutely call us if someone is in trouble, and wait for us to get there to show us where the person was last seen,” the sheriff said. “Our priority in a situation like this is the safety and well-being of the person in the water, or the person reported missing, versus the concern that a witness or the caller may have been drinking.”
“We don’t want someone not to call because they have been drinking, even if they’re underage,” he stressed.
Barber said he and deputies shared the frustration the firefighters felt leaving the river that night without knowing whether someone was really missing. “They were frustrated, and asked if anything else could be done that night, and the answer was no.”
At this point, the matter is considered closed by the KCSO. “We have no missing persons and have never been recontacted. As far as we’re concerned, it’s closed. Our belief is their friend, if he ever was in the water, apparently made it home safely.”
