WASHINGTON PARISH, La. — As search and rescue crews continue to search for a missing Holden man, authorities in Washington Parish say they believe they found the boat he was in at the bottom of the Pearl River.
The Washington Parish Sheriff's Office said Monday that crews have been unable to find the body of 47-year-old Eric Josh Williams. However, by using sonar equipment from the Cajun Navy, officers have found what is believed to be the boat occupied by Williams and 50-year-old Joe Newby near the Poole's Bluff sill. Newby's body was found early in the search for the two missing boaters last month.
"Due to the location of the boat on the river bottom below the Poole's Bluff sill, and the very swift and dangerous turbulent water at that location, officers have been unable to attach cables to the boat and bring it ashore," the sheriff's office said.
The WPSO said it intends to reach out to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - who maintains the sill - to bring a barge and other heavy equipment in to retrieve the boat.
Williams and Newby were reported missing last month after they had not returned home. The WPSO requested assistance after learning that the two men had launched their boat into the Pearl River from the Poole's Bluff boat launch earlier in the afternoon.
"From what we understand, the owner of the boat just purchased it and they were just testing it out," Corporal Lee Davis with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries said.
Newby's body was found around midnight just 400 yards downriver from a low head dam, also called a sill.
"We’re still searching everywhere we can below the sill because we're pretty confident that’s where the accident happened," Davis said.
He explains that when the river is low, the water level drops about 4 feet at the dam and if boaters aren't familiar with it, they may go right over.
"When it's low like that with the water churning on the other side, anything that gets trapped in it, it just kind of rolls back and forth in that dam," Davis said.
The only warning about the dam is some red signs that read "Danger." They are on each side of the river but can be hard to spot. One sign appears overgrown by limbs and weeds while the other is faded.
"They are kind of hard to see. If you are not familiar with a body of water, try to do a little research on it," he said.
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