Dive team searches southern Indiana lake for missing boy

FERDINAND, Ind. (AP) - A dive team is searching a southern Indiana lake for the body of a 13-year-old boy who vanished in 1997.

Divers began searching the lake Wednesday morning for signs of Ricky Lane Thomas Jr. of Bristow.

State Police said last month they had received a tip that the teen's body may be in the lake east of Ferdinand, about 40 miles northeast of Evansville.

The Herald of Jasper reports (http://bit.ly/1SL5j0v ) the boy was last seen on Nov. 6, 1997, when he reportedly left his home with two coon hound puppies to walk to a cousin's house about a mile and a half away.

Police, relatives and local residents conducted an extensive search around the boy's Perry County home, but found no trace of him.

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Information from: The Herald, http://www.dcherald.com