An unidentified body was recovered from the Hocking River on Monday afternoon.
The Athens Fire Department was first on the scene just after 1 p.m., after two fishermen who were on the river in a canoe located the body roughly three-eighths of a mile south of the Currier Street Bridge. Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle said this area was searched extensively five weeks prior when 21-year-old Sam Wiater went missing.
“The only thing I can confirm is that we have recovered a body, and the coroner and our criminal investigations unit is in the process of identifying the body,” Pyle said.
Pyle could not confirm whether the body was a male or female, nor if the department had determined a general age range for the body. There is no timeline on the identification, which will require the work of a forensic laboratory.
The body will be sent to the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office for an autopsy, according to a release put out by Lt. Anthony Fish. Pyle said the timeline on an autopsy is generally six to eight weeks.
Though a criminal investigation will be initiated, the department has no reason to suspect foul play or that the public is in any danger, Fish said in the release.
“The police department will proceed as if we have a criminal investigation,” Pyle said. “Until it’s proven otherwise, we will assume a criminal investigation and move forward in that regard.”
Deputies from the Athens County Sheriff’s Office had located the body of Sammie Steven Donato, 22 of Mt. Orab, Ohio, in a creek near Dow Lake off of U.S. Route 50 just 12 days prior. However, Pyle said the department is not aware of any possible correlation between the two bodies.
“I don’t think there is any cause for concern. Reasonable people can read the paper and deduce what they deduce, but I don’t feel like we’re at a point in time where we need to put out any kind of warning to the public regarding their safety around this area,” Pyle said. “That of course could change, but we don’t have anything at this point that would indicate a safety risk. The fact is, there is no correlation.”
Police officials contacted Wiater’s mother after finding the body as a precaution. Wiater first was reported missing March 13 after abandoning his car on Currier Street, close to where the body was found today.
“They had already been through the high and low when the other body was found, and we wanted to prevent that again,” Fish said. “Knowing that Mrs. Wiater has a Facebook page and knowing that this stuff would be hitting social media quickly, we wanted them to be aware we found a body.”
After being contacted by 911 and confirming the presence of the body, Athens firefighters went out onto the river on boats to assist with the recovery, Athens Fire Chief Robert Rymer said.
The body was found roughly three-fourths of a mile up the river from where the body of Keith Noble, an Ohio University student who went missing and was found in 1998, was found just south of White’s Mill Dam, 2 White’s Mill Dr.
“We have an undetermined death here, as of right now,” Pyle said. “So our job is to determine who the person is and how did they pass away.”
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