UPDATE 6/9/24 AT 10:25 AM – Crews ended their search for a missing man in the Milwaukee River after recovering a body on Friday evening.
The body was recovered near the Thiensville Dam by Village Park.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and Southern Ozaukee Fire Department recovered the body using using sonar technology and drones with assistance from The Cedarburg Fire Department and Thiensville Police Department.
The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office has not yet identified the body found.
THIENSVILLE — The Southern Ozaukee Fire and EMS Department is continuing its efforts to locate a missing man believed to be in the waters of the Milwaukee River near Thiensville Village Park.
Officials received calls just after 6:30pm on Wednesday, June 5, of a man “in distress” in the water near the dam. It was reported that the man went into the water after his dog.
The Milwaukee Fire Department and Port Washington Fire Department dive teams, along with 8 other fire departments and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources all came to support the search efforts. The teams worked for 90 minutes but stopped due to dangerous water conditions, inaccessibility of a low-head dam, weather, and daylight constraints.
Fire Department personnel remained on-site to monitor the area throughout the evening.
On Thursday morning, Fire Captain Joel Deutsch provided an update: “Once the sun rose, we began search efforts of the area, including the shore. This morning, Wisconsin DNR with their [submersible] SONAR device, which is able to look underwater for anything that would be indicative of the missing person. Currently we have switched into a recovery.” Aerial drones were also used.
Deutsch said that changing modes from “rescue” to “recovery” doesn’t really change how they operate, but it make them “more cognizant” of the work being done.
While law enforcement has not yet identified the missing man, Deutsch did confirm that the man is middle aged and local to the area. The family has been informed of what is happening.
Barricades remain up around the search areas along the Milwaukee River in Thiensville Village Park. “This is a low-head dam,” said Captain Deutsch. “You see the part that goes over, and creates this backwash, which are these turbulent waters that just, kind of, continually recirculate. And then just outside of that, there’s this little area that kind of percolates, which is called the boil.”
He commented that the DNR continues to use their sonar technology to check the boil and the area directly below the dam “to see, again, if they recognize anything.”
“Likely the river either crested last night so it reached its peak height for now unless we receive more rain,” Captain Deutsch continued. “But if the water reaches the parking lot, we will keep a presence here to restrict people.”
“As the waters are higher than normal, they are moving much quicker and can be more dangerous,” said Captain Deutsch. “Tonight there is Lionsfest, and it’s scheduled to continue on as scheduled this evening [and] throughout this weekend. There will be barricades to keep people out of this immediate area to keep them safe.”
Southern Ozaukee Fire and EMN say search operations are ongoing with the assistance of the Wisconsin DNR.