Menu
UPDATE: Body of Robert Sims recovered
UPDATE: 11:15 a.m., Thursday Sept. 15:
According to reports from the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department, the body of the Fillmore man missing on Big Walnut Creek since Saturday evening has been recovered.
Robert Sims, 27, went missing while kayaking with a friend when the creek was high after a rain storm.
As of 11:15 a.m., Indiana Conservation Officers were still in the act of recovering the body.
Sims’ body was found in the extreme northeastern corner of Greencastle Township, west of County Road 275 East, not too far from where his kayak capsized.
Story will be updated.
UPDATE: Indiana Conservation Officers continued their search for Robert Sims in kayaks on Tuesday and Wednesday as the creek level continued to drop.
Cpl. Dale Clark of the Indiana Conservation Officers (ICO) said with the creek having dropped significantly since Sims, 27, Fillmore, disappeared on Saturday evening, kayaks are probably the only way to continue the search on a creek the size of Big Walnut.
"I think that's about the only way you can do this right now," Clark said.
The kayaks also allow officers to take their time and perhaps get closer to the banks than motorized boats.
On Wednesday it was Clark and Conservation Officer Kyle Hembree, stationed in Owen and Sullivan counties respectively, lending a hand in the search for the Putnam County man.
With water levels down, dropping as much as six inches a day according to one observer, Clark and Hembree also called on the help of local responders late Wednesday afternoon, with the Putnam County Citizens Emergency Response Team (CERT) activated to help in the search for Sims' body.
CERT was deployed around 5 p.m. Wednesday.
The search is decidedly low-tech in this situation, with officers saying that tools such as sonar do little good under the current conditions in Big Walnut.
Clark was unsure of longer term plans from ICO District 5 if Sims is not recovered soon. However, he said a pair of officers would be assigned to the detail again at least through Thursday.
A pair of Indiana Conservation Officers were back on the waters of Big Walnut Creek Monday, searching for the body of a Fillmore man missing since Saturday night.
Robert Sims, 27, was last seen about 9:30 p.m. Saturday somewhere downstream of the Wildwood Bridge area, where he and a companion launched their kayaks.
Both men struck objects under the water and submerged their kayaks.
The companion made it to shore, but Sims attempted to save his watercraft and did not return to shore.
Conservation Officers, supported by local law enforcement and fire departments, searched until 2 a.m. Sunday, when conditions became too foggy.
They resumed their search later Sunday, finding Sims’ kayak, a paddle, some clothing and a dry box containing a cell phone and other personal items.
Sims’ body has still not been recovered.
Cpl. Pete Slaven and Officer Greg Swanson resumed the search Monday morning, hoping for better results as water levels recede and the temperatures rise.
Slaven said officers have a pretty good idea of where to search based on a number of factors.
First, the companion gave a pretty detailed description of where Sims was last seen. Secondly, officers are confident Sims would not have made it past the dam at the Greencastle waterworks.
This leaves a five to six mile stretch of stream, but other clues have them zeroed in on more specific areas.
The kayak, clothes and dry box were all found in one area, with the paddle a bit farther downstream. Additionally, all items were on the north shore.
This leads Cpl. Slaven to believe that Sims will also be found on the north shore, as the current was strongest on that side.
Working a relatively narrow waterway like Big Walnut also allows a two-man crew to adequately perform the search now that it has moved into recovery mode.
Slaven said a different two-officer team would be working the waterway on Tuesday if necessary.
The Putnam County Sheriff’s Department and Greencastle Fire Department received the initial calls on Sunday evening. However, PCSD officials soon called in the Conservation Officers, who specialize in such work.
Thankful for the assistance their department is receiving, Sheriff Scott Stockton and Chief Deputy Phil Parker took lunch to the pair of officers on Monday, meeting them at the former site of Crowe’s Bridge.
Papa John’s in Greencastle provided pizza at no charge to the county or the state.