Missing man (GCSO)
The Grant County Sheriff’s Office has resumed the search for a fisherman who was last seen near the Potholes Reservoir (O’Sullivan Lake) October 3rd., except now it’s a recovery mission.
GCSO has notified relatives it is a recovery mission
When authorities consider a missing person who was on or near water to have not survived, they change the search to a recovery mission, meaning they are looking for the person’s body.
Thursday, the GCSO and search teams are combing the waters of O’Sullivan Lake with a search boat and an aerial drone, looking for 52-year-old Richard Smith. Officials say thick growth and submerged vegetation are making the search more challenging, in addition to the size of the lake.
Although some of Smith’s fishing-related personal effects were found at the water’s edge in a certain area of the lake, searchers don’t have a pinpoint area where he was last seen. One of his two small boats was in the back of his truck, the other, a flat-bottom aluminum boat, was presumed to the one he’d used early last Thursday to go fishing.
O’Sullivan is 22 square miles in size, the search continues.
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Gallery Credit: Andrew Lisa