Man pulled from Great Miami River in Hamilton in submerged vehicle

Police continued their investigation Wednesday into the discovery of a man dead inside a vehicle submerged in the Great Miami River in Hamilton.

The man was discovered and pulled out of a white SUV Tuesday afternoon, but he may have been in the river since Friday night, police said.

The man has not been identified.

Just before 3:45 p.m. Tuesday Butler County Sheriff’s Office Emergency Response Services Team and the Task Force One Dive Team responded to the Great Miami River, south of the Columbia Road bridge, for a vehicle in the water.

There were no 911 calls, according to Butler County dispatch, but rather a Hamilton detective saw the vehicle in the river after he was following up on a missing person report that was filed on Monday, Jan. 20.

Assisted by GPS tracking in the vehicle, Hamilton Detective Jeff Benge responded to the riverbank of the Great Miami River, the last known area the vehicle was in. He searched the riverbank and discovered a vehicle completely submerged under the ice.

Additional officers responded to the scene and deployed a drone over the location and confirmed that the vehicle submerged in the ice matched the description of the vehicle that the victim was last known to be driving.

The Butler County Sherriff’s Office Emergency Response Services Team and the Task Force One Dive Team then responded to the scene. The ERS team used its underwater drone, which confirmed the presence of a deceased victim inside the vehicle.

“Due to the hazardous conditions and freezing temperatures additional equipment was needed to recover the victim and the vehicle,” according to a statement by the Hamilton Police Department.

The vehicle was extracted from the river around 10 p.m. Tuesday.

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“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victim’s family,” said Sheriff Richard Jones.

The Butler County Coroner’s Office will perform an autopsy on Friday, when the identification of the deceased will be released.

Hamilton Police Sgt. Brian Ungerbuehler said “we recovered the victim and the vehicle from the river late last night and the coroner took charge of the victim pending identification.”