Search fails to locate missing former Des Plaines woman
A second day of searching for a former Des Plaines woman who went missing in an swollen Indiana river Sunday morning was suspended again due to darkness Monday evening. Authorities say it will resume at daybreak Tuesday.
Kathryn McGill, 31, was a passenger in a small pickup truck driven by her 35-year-old husband, Adam, when floodwaters swept it off Highway 257 in southwestern Indiana about 7:45 a.m. Sunday.
Joe Haywood, a conservation officer for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Law Enforcement, said crews were back in the White River about 7 a.m. Monday searching for McGill’s body.
“We’ve got boats on the water today,” Haywood said.
Adam McGill was rescued Sunday and transported to Daviess County Community Hospital. He later was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital in Evansville to treat hypothermia before being released Monday, authorities said.
Haywood said while McGill’s Illinois driver’s license listed her as from Des Plaines, she and her husband were traveling home to Norfolk, Va., where he now is stationed with the Navy. He said the couple were in Indiana visiting Adam McGill’s family.
Police said waterfowl hunters reportedly watched the pickup headed south on the road trying to navigate floodwaters Sunday morning. After seeing the vehicle get swept off the highway, they drove their boat to the area it was last seen.
Haywood said recovery crews are in a section of the White River filled with corn stalks, tree limbs and debris, near where it flows east to west under Highway 257. The White flows in two forks through central and southern Indiana as a primary tributary to the Wabash River.
Investigators who have interviewed Adam McGill believe his wife exited the pickup and the current took her down the river, Haywood said. Screams for help were heard, but only Adam McGill could be rescued by the hunters.
Haywood said the search for Kathryn McGill in the swift current was halted Sunday night. Search efforts included bank searches, side scan sonar, canine searches, wading shallow water and dragging operations.
Responding agencies included Daviess County sheriff’s office, Pike County sheriff’s office, Harrison Fire Department, Jefferson Township Fire Department, Southwest Medical, Pike County EMS, Pike County EMA, Ohio Valley Search and Rescue, American Red Cross and Indiana Conservation Officers.
Ÿ Daily Herald staff writer Eric Peterson contributed to this report.