Body found in Youghiogheny
OHIOPYLE – Friends of a 26-year-old Canonsburg man, who hadn’t been seen since he was swept over the waterfall in Ohiopyle State Park on Friday, found his body Wednesday in the area of the Youghiogheny River pinpointed by a search dog.
The body of Esker H. Cottrill III was located around noon approximately two and a third miles downstream from where he went swimming in high and fast-moving water. His body was taken to Pittsburgh where pathologist Cyril Wecht will perform an autopsy.
“We’re just happy the family has some peace and closure,” said Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Park Manager John Hallas.
Hallas commended area volunteer firefighters, Fayette EMS, Fayette County Emergency Management Administration, divers, park staff and local kayakers who helped in the five-day search.
The Spring Valley community brought food and beverages for the family and searchers and a local church gave shelter to Cottrill’s family.
The family staying at the park throughout the ordeal help inspire the searchers, Hallas said.
“Everybody worked tremendously in the effort,” Hallas said. “It was an amazing effort.”
He said some of the park staff were in boats searching for the body while others stayed with the family to provide support.
“We were working 15 hour days throughout the entire incident,” Hallas said.
The body was recovered from the area that had become the focal point of the search since Reilly, a cadaver dog owned by Luanne Richter, who works with the Fayette County coroner’s office, detected something on Sunday.
Richter brought the German shepherd dog back to the area Monday and it reacted even more strongly. She and Reilly were back at the scene Wednesday.
Hallas said he felt confident the body would eventually be found in the area marked by the dog.
The area is about 100 meters downstream from a place locally known as Coleman’s Cove. It is a kilometer from the High Bridge, which carries the bike trail over the river.
Hallas said he was surface diving in the area Monday and Tuesday, but didn’t find the body.
Divers from local volunteer fire departments also unsuccessfully searched the area Monday.
“It was very deep,” Hallas said.
He and a member of the park maintenance staff returned to the area Wednesday morning, but still didn’t find anything.
Friends of Cottrill’s family searched the area from the shore and found the body near the shore on the right side of the river, Hallas said.
He said they called the family and the family contacted Hallas.
Because of the steep banks along that part of the river, the body was carried in a boat about a quarter of a mile downstream to a path that leads to the bike trail.
The area where the body was found was crawling with poisonous copperhead snakes and “one slithered between my feet,” Hallas said.
The river was about 31/2 feet deep Wednesday and Hallas commended the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the depth by controlling the release of water at the Yough River Lake Dam, for keeping the dept under 4 feet during the search.
It was about seven feet deep, nearly 5 feet higher than normal, when Cottrill went swimming at a bridge upstream from the waterfall.
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