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.
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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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