Still no sign of missing Lyndora man
MUDDY CREEK TWP — Rescue crews continued their search at Lake Arthur Saturday morning for a missing Butler Township man.
Nicholas Sopel Jr., 62, of Lyndora was last seen early Wednesday morning.
Rescuers began searching for him Thursday afternoon, shortly after his family found his pickup truck parked on the side of Route 422, just west of the bridge near Moraine State Park.
State police and park officials organized a water, ground and air search but yielded no results by nightfall.
Dustin Drew, the park manager, said several crews continued the search throughout the day Friday.
The Greensburg Volunteer Fire Department used underwater sonar equipment to scan the about 12-foot-deep water under the bridge.
Butler County's Team 300 water rescue unit covered searches on the surface of the water and the surrounding shorelines, while Portersville, Prospect, Unionville, Evans City, Harmony and Zelienople fire departments assisted in searching the nearby forest.
“We had a good balance of land and water,” Drew said. “Unfortunately, nothing was found.”
State police also conducted an air search from a helicopter for about an hour Friday afternoon.
Authorities do not know what happened to Sopel, but could not rule out the possibility he fell or jumped off the 20-foot high bridge.
Drew said it is hard to speculate on what happened, but said rescuers are still hopeful in their searches.
“Without any witnesses, it's hard to know what occurred,” he said.
“We're not ruling anything out.”
Sopel's family gathered at the park office throughout the day waiting for updates from the park rangers.
Drew said rescuers would continue to search for Sopel until he is found.
“We'll search until we find him,” Drew said. “We've had week-plus long searches. Hopefully it doesn't go that long, but you never know.”
Sopel is white with gray hair and a full gray beard, police said. He has a tattoo on his left arm of motorcycle wheel with wings. He walks with a limp.
Police said he takes an unspecified medicine and doesn't have it.
