Description

May 3, 2012 family members reported seeing victim standing on the bank of the Rogue River, removing his shirt and shoes. He slipped on the wet smooth rocks and fell into the river which was running high and cold due to spring runoff. A short distance down river, victim's head was seen momentarily, before he was swept over a 12' waterfall. The victim was not seen again. Extensive search by SAR up to 7 miles downstream failed to recover victim. The area below the falls is deeply undercut with multiple strong eddies and large submerged rocks with many unknown submerged pinning hazards. Due to turbulence, the visibility into the water was near zero. County Search and Rescue searched both banks to approximately 7 miles downriver without success.