MOUNT VERNON (AP) — Authorities have recovered a body in eastern Iowa believed to be that of a missing boater. The Linn County Sheriff's Office says the body was found Tuesday in the Cedar River about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) south of the boat ramp at Palisades-Kepler State Park. An autopsy was ordered and the search was called off. The sheriff's office says the body likely is that of 59-year-old Ricky Veenstra, who lived in Cedar Rapids. Veenstra either jumped or fell from a boat on the river Sunday morning.
The Gazette – Cedar Rapids, IA
The body of the boater who went
missing in the Cedar River on Sunday near Mount Vernon has been found,
officials believe. On Tuesday, a body was found in the river about 2 miles
south of the Palisades Kepler State Park boat ramp, the Linn County Sheriff’s
Office said in a news release.
Positive identification of the body
has not been made, but authorities believe it is Ricky Veenstra, 59, of Cedar
Rapids.Veenstra was in a boat just below the spillway when he went into the
river and did not resurface, witnesses told officials. The body was taken to
the Iowa Medical Examiner’s Office in Ankeny for an autopsy, according to the
news release.
It is not clear whether Veenstra fell
or jumped into the water. Witnesses told officials they saw the man jump from
his rocking fishing boat into the turbulent water below the dam Sunday morning.
However, information from the sheriff’s office indicates the man fell from the
boat.
