BRINNON — A man who challenged high waters chilled by snowmelt rescued his girlfriend and perhaps others from the cold Duckabush River before he slipped beneath the surface of the waterway, said the Brinnon Fire Chief.
The body of Jesse Cruz, 34, of Oakville has not been found since he went swimming with friends in the river southwest of Brinnon at about 5 p.m. Saturday.
Reportedly a good swimmer, Cruz rescued his girlfriend and perhaps others when they could not swim back to shore, according to Brinnon Fire Chief Tim Manly.
“According to his friends, he got tired and got pulled under and wasn’t seen again,” Manly said.
Swimming with him were his girlfriend Tisha Newby, and friends Nick Stone, Tiffany Morris and Ryan Ward, said David Ramirez, Cruz’s cousin, just before he boarded a plane to fly from Oklahoma to the Pacific Northwest on Tuesday.
First responders of the Brinnon Fire Department, Jefferson County Search and Rescue, Olympic Mountain Rescue and Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office searched the area until dark Saturday evening and resumed the search at first light Sunday morning, Manly said.
Rescuers searched the shoreline of the river from Ranger Hole, where Cruz was swimming before he went missing, to the junction of the Duckabush River and the Hood Canal just off U.S. Highway 101.
“If he had gotten up on the shoreline or if a body was hung up somewhere in the river, I’m confident we would’ve found him,” Manly said.
Arthur Frank, chief criminal investigator for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, said his office was working Tuesday with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office to determine whether a search could be done by swift-water divers.
Manly said it is likely that Cruz’s body is still in the river somewhere but the river’s current cold temperatures and swift currents are making it difficult to search more than the shoreline without endangering search and rescue teams.
“We could also wait until the river conditions are safer to send out more divers,” Manly said. “Even then, there is always a possibility we won’t find him.”
Manly said the group had hiked out to the river on the Ranger Hole Trail located in Olympic National Forest south of Brinnon.
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Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Cydney McFarland can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 55052, or at cmcfarland@peninsuladailynews.com.
