 Eighteen-year-old Billy Ray Eskew was given permission to go on the
overnight fishing trip on Monday evening with three friends. He is a
new graduate of Salt Creek Academy.
Eskew and three other young men made camp on Salt Creek on Monday
evening. Their camp was about one-fourth mile east of Business Route
66, where the railroad crosses the creek between Madigan State Park
and the Sportsmen's Club.
One of the boys woke at 7 on Tuesday morning and everyone,
including Eskew, was there. When they woke at 10 a.m. Eskew was
gone. Eskew had a job interview in town later, so they thought he
might have gotten up and gone in for that.
He didn't show for the job interview. On Tuesday evening family
and friends contacted local officials, and the Logan County
Emergency Management Agency began a search of the creek area. The
search had to be discontinued at 2 a.m.
Numerous agencies have joined the search of the muddy waters and
surrounding grounds. Mutual aid was called for state and area
resources to conduct a thorough search of the area. Illinois
Emergency Management Agency supplied a helicopter. Sangamon County
Emergency Management Agency joined the ground search. A special boat
with side-searching capabilities has been used.
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Heavy weekend rains have complicated the search. No evidence has
been found. The situation has been turned over to the Logan County
Sheriff's Department as a missing person investigation.
Boat searches will continue daily at least to Sunday, according
to Terry Storer, deputy director for the Logan County Emergency
Management Agency.
Eskew is 6-feet-1-inch tall and weighs 200 pounds. He has short
blondish-brown hair, a goatee and blue eyes. He was last seen
wearing jeans, a red hooded coat with white sleeves, a tan Carhartt
jacket and black boots.
[By JAN YOUNGQUIST]
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