Jefferson County emergency responders spent time Saturday through Monday (Feb. 19-21) searching near a bridge over the Big River on Hwy. B in Morse Mill for a missing 58-year-old Lonedell man.
Authorities have not identified the man, who was last seen Saturday morning at his home.
The search was ended late Monday afternoon, and the man is still missing, Cedar Hill Fire Protection District Chief Mick Fischer said today (Feb. 22).
Grant Bissell, spokesman for Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, said the man’s wife reported him missing after he did not show up for work on Saturday.
Fischer said he believes the man worked at a quarry.
Bissell said the wife told first responders her husband got up around 5 a.m. and left the house for work, and at about 7 a.m. his employer called her asking where he was. The man’s wife said she tried calling her husband and got no answer, and then she drove the route he normally traveled to work and found his truck near the bridge on Hwy. B near Hwy. C.
Fischer said crews were dispatched at 8:58 a.m. and started searching at 9:11 a.m. He said crews searched on foot and used the High Ridge Fire Protection District’s drone to help with the search.
Bissell said the Sheriff's Office bloodhound also searched and picked up a scent but did not locate the man.
Fischer said the river was too high on Saturday to search with boats and the search ended that day at 11:45 a.m.
He said the search resumed at about 10 a.m. Sunday (Feb. 20), and personnel from the Hillsboro and Cedar Hill fire protection districts and the Missouri State Highway Patrol searched with boats. No evidence of the man was found, and the search ended Sunday at 1 p.m.
Boats and the drone were used again when searching continued at about 9 a.m. Monday. The search ended at 4:36 p.m. that day, Fischer said.
He said the search won’t resume unless authorities receive new reliable information about the man’s possible whereabouts. Anyone with information about the missing man should call the Sheriff’s Office.