Missing without a trace
MUDDY CREEK TWP — Rescue crews Saturday morning continued to search Lake Arthur for a fisherman who was reported missing Friday morning.
Walter C. Powell, 51, of Richland Township, Allegheny County, is believed to have launched a red canoe to go fishing about 7 p.m. Thursday at Bear Run Boat Launch on Moraine State Park's south shore, said Jake Weiland, assistant park manager.
After he did not return Thursday night, Powell's son drove to the park Friday morning and found his pickup truck in the Bear Run parking lot. He reported his father missing, and park staff began coordinating a search at 8 a.m. Friday.
Rescue crews searched throughout Friday but found no trace of Powell or his canoe. The search continued at 8:30 a.m. Saturday.
“We're going to focus mainly on the water today,” park manager Dustin Drew said as emergency responders were first gathering at the lake. “We have seven different volunteer units with sonar.”
Drew said it is possible Powell is still alive somewhere, but said those chances will continue to drop the longer the search goes.
“Usually into the second day its borderline (between a rescue and recovery mission),” he said. “I don't want to say there is no hope yet, but the longer the search continues, it begins to move more into a recovery.”
Officials with the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Butler County, the Harmony Fire District, the Portersville Muddy Creek Township Ambulance, Murrysville Medic 1, the Unionville Fire Department, the Markle Volunteer Fire Department and the Vandergrift Volunteer Fire Department were assisting with the search.
Drew added the Allegheny Mountain Rescue Group, a nonprofit search group from Pittsburgh, also assisted Saturday by searching the land around the lake.
Rescuers planned to continue searching until dusk Saturday if they don't find Powell.By 12:50 p.m. Friday several rescue boats and a LifeFlight helicopter had searched the entire shore line of the lake.A second wave of rescue boats, some equipped with sonar scanners, went out about 2 p.m.Chris Calhoun, assistant chief of Butler County's Team 300 Water Rescue, instructed the rescue teams to look for any signs of the canoe, a life vest, camouflage clothing that Powell was wearing, a cooler or a tackle box.Powell is described as 5 feet 10 inches and 175 pounds. He did not have any known medical conditions, officials said.A private pilot flying an airplane and a drone owned by Butler County also were searching from the air.Several of the man's family members gathered in the park office for most of the day Friday.“We tried to keep them updated,” Drew said.Murrysville and Unionville both have scuba divers who are prepared to enter the water if needed, though their job would be challenging.“You can only see about 6 inches in front of you. It's a muddy lake,” said Steve Bicehouse, county Emergency Services director.Drew said crews would be diving into the water Saturday only if there was a sign of something on the sonar.Eagle staff writer Will DeShong contributed to this report.
