Bodies of 2 missing kayakers found; coroner confirms IDs
by: Matt Adams , Fox 59
Posted: Apr 22, 2024 / 11:52 AM EDT
INDIANAPOLIS – The bodies of two missing kayakers have been recovered.
The Indiana Department of Natural Resources said search teams recovered the body of 22-year-old Solomon Shirley on Monday morning. The coroner’s office confirmed his identity on Tuesday. A passing bicyclist spotted the remains just south of the Michigan Street bridge, DNR said. At the time of the discovery, a second kayaker, 30-year-old Marcus Robinson, remained missing.
A second body was recovered from the White River near the 10th Street bridge around 6 p.m. Monday, although conservation officers couldn’t confirm if it was that of Robinson and awaited a positive ID from the coroner’s office. Tuesday, the Marion County Coroner’s Office confirmed Robinson’s identity. The cause of death for both men was listed as drowning.
Solomon and Robinson started at the White River at Riverside Park on Tuesday, April 16. A witness saw them being ejected from their kayaks at the dam at Belmont Beach. They didn’t resurface, leading to a large search.
DNR and local police searched the area for days, utilizing boats, sonar, drones and an Indiana State Police helicopter. Police had earlier located two empty kayaks.
Experts warn of dangerous dam in White River as search continues for missing kayakers
by: Eric Graves , Fox 59
Posted: Apr 17, 2024 / 06:04 PM EDT
INDIANAPOLIS — Search and rescue crews are still scanning the White River for any signs of two missing kayakers. The search began Tuesday night when the pair went underwater just downstream from the 16th St. bridge.
Search and rescue crews could be seen combing the shallower sections near the East bank of the White River. They used long poles to search the riverbed but didn’t find what they were looking for.
“We have several boats on the water, there’s going to be several crews searching the shores as well as aerial searches by drone and helicopter,” said Trevor Sagar, an Indiana Conservation Officer.
Sager said a witness reported two kayakers went underwater at the Emrichsville Dam around 8:30 Tuesday night. The area is marked by foaming, circulating white water. It’s just downriver from the 16th St. bridge.
So far, only the two kayaks have been found. The two kayakers are believed to be 30-year-old Marcus Robinson and 22-year-old Solomon Shirley. ”They kayaked from Riverside Park to here,” said Antonio Alford, a relative of the two missing men. Alford said the pair liked being outdoors and enjoyed hiking and kayaking.
”The surprising thing about this is just the time with it being so late at night and with it being dark and with it having rained so much in the water so this is just something where I wish they wouldn’t have went right now,” Alford said.
Friends of the White River said water levels on the river were some of the highest in the past 20 years this last weekend. ”The amount of water in the system has been declining the last several days but its still higher than we would recommend being on the river,” said Scott Salmon, the Executive Director of Friends of the White River.
Salmon said the area where the kayakers went under was an especially dangerous part of the river because of the Emrichsville Dam. Salmon said it’s a failed “low head dam” that essentially creates a riptide in the river with water circulating like a washing machine.
”Water comes over the low head dam, or we call them in-channel damns, and then recirculates back in on itself,” Salmon said. “So, we actually have the current going upstream just downstream of the dam, so two water conditions are converging to pin people on the low head dam and push them back under.”
Salmon said they’ve been dreading someone else going under at the dam since the last time it happened. A 17-year-old was pulled under and killed in 2021.
Alford said he’s concerned his family members didn’t even see the dam coming, especially with it getting dark out. ”It’s possible, especially because the dam is in a state of disrepair,” Salmon said. “It actually failed in 2018 and it’s not as visible as most low-head dams are upstream.”
Salmon said they’ve recently added a sign just upriver from the dam warning people to get out and not try to paddle through the dam. You can see the side from the river and on the East side of the 16th St. bridge. Salmon adds the safest thing to do, though, would just be removing the dam entirely. ”You can’t have a world-class destination of paddling when you have a lethal drowning hazard,” Salmon said.He said the dam is city-owned. The Friends of the White River have been pushing for the dam to be removed for years but have not succeeded.
First responders will continue searching the White River until dark. If necessary, the search will restart Thursday morning at 9 a.m. ”Hopefully someone can see them,” Alford said. “At this point, we’ll take anything.”
2 kayakers reported missing from White River
by: Tyler Haughn, Fox 59
Posted: Apr 16, 2024
This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.
INDIANAPOLIS — A search is underway for two people who reportedly went missing while kayaking on the White River in downtown Indy Tuesday night.
Firefighters with the Indianapolis Fire Department responded around 8:30 p.m. to downtown between W. New York Street and Limestone Street after receiving reports that a person was down in the water. IFD Special Operations Division Chief Kevin Jones said first responders were told by witnesses that two kayakers were observed reportedly going under the water. The witnesses remained on the scene and continued providing info to officials.
IFD’s search response team conducted a search from Washington Street north to 16th Street as they worked to find the missing people, Jones said. The boats searched underwater and checked local embankments while utilizing sonar equipment. The search teams also used drone technology that was provided by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.
As of this time of writing, the missing kayakers have not been found. Jones confirmed that two empty kayaks have been recovered so far and were turned over to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
First responders from IMPD, Indiana DNR, the Fishers Fire Department and Wayne Township Fire Department also assisted at the scene. The search has been temporarily called off for tonight. The search will resume Wednesday morning.
Wrongful death lawsuit filed after 2024 drowning deaths of 2 kayakers in White River
by: Tyler Haughn , Fox 59
Posted: Mar 3, 2025
INDIANAPOLIS — A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed after two men drowned while kayaking on the White River in downtown Indianapolis last year.
The lawsuit, which was filed Monday in Marion Superior Court 13, centers on the April 16, 2024, drowning deaths of 30-year-old Marcus Robinson and 22-year-old Solomon Shirley after their kayaks were forced underwater by the Emrichsville Dam, which has been described as a “low head dam.” Many advocates have been calling for the city to remove the dam entirely for safety reasons after it failed in 2018.
The plaintiffs in the legal proceeding include Yvette Ellis, who is identified as the special administrator of the estates for both Robinson and Shirley. The lawsuit alleges the City of Indianapolis, the Indianapolis Parks and Recreation Department and Indianapolis Department of Public Works were negligent for not properly warning kayakers traversing White River that the Emrichsville Dam was a “potentially fatal hazard.”
“Marcus and Solomon did not know of the presence of the dam and/or were not aware that it posed a potentially fatal hazard because those responsible for the dam and the surrounding waterway, including the Defendants, failed to place and/or maintain signs warning of the presence and lethal danger of the dam,” the lawsuit said.
According to previous reports, IFD’s search response team was called on April 16, 2024, to the area between W. New York Street and Limestone Street after witnesses reported seeing two kayakers go under the water near the Emrichsville Dam and not reemerge.
According to the lawsuit, Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett and the other defendants were “fully aware of the lethal hazard posed by Emrichsville Dam after the mayor’s office received several requests from local nonprofits, including Friends of the White River, to remove or modify the existing dam.
The lawsuit claims all of these requests were ignored, including an effort to have more warning signs placed upstream of the dam. The city did add a sign upriver of the dam warning people to get out and to avoid paddling through the dam. It is visible from the east side of the 16th Street bridge.
However, the lawsuit asserts that the placement of this one sign does not adequately convey the imminent danger the dam poses.
“The only attempt at warning whatsoever were signs placed on the 16th Street bridge stating “Rapids Ahead,” the lawsuit said. “That signage did not accurately convey the condition of the river and, rather than serving as a warning of a dam and lethal hazard, likely enticed boaters to engage in an expected natural rapids condition rather than an unnatural lethal danger.”
The lawsuit also referenced the 2021 death of 17-year-old Kevin Rodriguez, who was pulled under the same dam and drowned. NB: HE WAS A SWIMMER< NOT A PADDLER!
Shortly after the deaths of Robinson and Shirley, the Indianapolis Department of Public Works and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service announced that plans were underway to remove Emrichsville Dam thanks to a $750,000 grant for the National Fish Passage Program. However, the lawsuit said all three deaths were “foreseeable” and were directly caused by “negligence” on behalf of the defendants.
The lawsuit is seeking monetary compensation to help cover costs associated with burial and funeral expenses and attorney fees. Additionally, the plaintiffs are seeking a jury trial in the case.
FOX59/CBS4 has reached out to Mayor Hogsett’s office, the Indianapolis Parks and Recreation Department and Indianapolis Department of Public Works for their comments on the newly filed lawsuit.
