CARUTHERSVILLE -- The body of a missing 46-year-old Caruthersville man was located after several days of search and rescue efforts. Jeffrey Bollinger's body was located by a tugboat captain just south of the Mississippi River Bridge on Tuesday morning.
Pemiscot County Coroner Jim Brimhall said that the death appeared to be accidental.
Bollinger and a friend were fishing on Sunday around 5 p.m., according to the Pemiscot County Sheriff's Department. Originally it was thought that Bollinger went in the water on the Tennessee side of the river, but later indications were that he went missing on the Missouri side, turning the investigation over to the Pemiscot County Sheriff's Department.
Reports indicated that Bollinger was attempting to grab a rope as the boat drifted and was swept under by the current.
Rescue teams from Pemiscot County, Lake County and the Missouri State Highway Patrol Water Patrol along with volunteer boaters searched for Bollinger Sunday evening and Monday with no luck, and the rescue effort became a recovery effort Monday evening.
Bollinger is the first reported drowning in Pemiscot County this year.