According to family members and other sources, the operator of vessel 1 had told his wife that he was going to go feed his bait area for the next day's hunt.  Operator had an area about 300 yards away from his duck blind where he placed corn to attract waterfowl.  Around 4:30pm, he left his house and headed to the canal where he kept his canoe.  It is unknown exactly what happened after that, but at some time after dark, the family realized that operator had not returned.  Family members then went to the canal and located his truck, but he was no where around.  At approximately 8:44pm, the currituck county sheriff's department was notified of the overdue boater.  I was notified by currituck co so by phone around 9:00pm and advised them that  i was off, but could assist at any time if needed.  The deputy stated that they were checking with friends of operator. To see if they knew of his where abouts and trying to use his cell phone to track him.  I advised the deputy to call me back if he needed me.  The next morning i contacted the currituck co sd to see if operator had been located.  Captain currituck co sd stated that he had not.  I arrived on scene and started my investigation.  I was able to find out that vessel 1 had been located by friends of operator around 3:00am near the bridge on the bells island causeway.  They had also stated that the canoe had been swamped and that they had located operator’s chest waders along with his cell phone.  This is all the information we have on this incident at this time, as recovery efforts are still ongoing. 

Update:  the body of operator was recovered by local commercial fishermen around noon on january 13th.  Cause of death is presumed to be drowning, but has not been confirmed at this time.  The family has requested an autopsy and results will be several weeks away.
 
In addition, until autopsy results come back, it is not know if alcohol or drugs played a role in this incident.

MAPLE                         