Kathy Pinna
Teen's Body Found
Several fishermen out for the day on the Allegheny River Sunday afternoon found the body of a dead teen floating offshore in Emlenton, Venango County.
The body was found about 30 miles downriver from the spot where an Oil City boy, Jacob Heath, 14, jumped from a railroad bridge into the water May 7. He was last seen calling for help and thrashing in the water. Oil City emergency responders spend hours over the next several days searching for Heath using divers, helicopters, underwater cameras and dogs - to no avail.
Heath and several friends had been on the abandoned railroad bridge an Heath and another boy jumped. That boy was uninjured in his 40-foot jump into the relatively shallow water. In the area near the bridge, the bottom of the river was easily visible, and rescue workers estimated it was no more than 10 feet deep.
Though officials are still working on a positive identification of the body that was found, it was described as that of a male, 14 -16 years old, with dark hair. "We don't have any other reports of people missing," said state police Trooper Mark Swartfager.
An autopsy was done yesterday, and the cause of death was drowning, said Venango County Coroner H. John Greggs. He expected to make a positive identification on the body today.
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) Tuesday, May 17, 2005 on page 12,
The body was found about 30 miles downriver from the spot where an Oil City boy, Jacob Heath, 14, jumped from a railroad bridge into the water May 7. He was last seen calling for help and thrashing in the water. Oil City emergency responders spend hours over the next several days searching for Heath using divers, helicopters, underwater cameras and dogs - to no avail.
Heath and several friends had been on the abandoned railroad bridge an Heath and another boy jumped. That boy was uninjured in his 40-foot jump into the relatively shallow water. In the area near the bridge, the bottom of the river was easily visible, and rescue workers estimated it was no more than 10 feet deep.
Though officials are still working on a positive identification of the body that was found, it was described as that of a male, 14 -16 years old, with dark hair. "We don't have any other reports of people missing," said state police Trooper Mark Swartfager.
An autopsy was done yesterday, and the cause of death was drowning, said Venango County Coroner H. John Greggs. He expected to make a positive identification on the body today.
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) Tuesday, May 17, 2005 on page 12,
