The Hamilton County Coroner’s Office said no cause of death was ruled as of Monday and the investigation is continuing. After autopsy results are released later this week, Ross Twp. police Chief Burton Roberts said he expects to meet with the coroner’s office and the prosecutor’s office to determine whether any charges will be filed. He didn’t want to discuss the case further, saying the investigation is ongoing.
Then on Saturday night, a 47-year-old Ross Twp. man attempted to swim across the Great Miami River, went under the water and never resurfaced.
Rodney Zehr was found Sunday near the U.S 27 bridge, and he was not wearing a life jacket, Roberts said.
“Very tragic to say the least,” Roberts said.
Crews arrived on the scene shortly after 8:30 p.m. Saturday, according to the Butler County Sheriff’s Office. Zehr’s fishing companion called 911 after Zehr attempted to swim to the other side of the river.
The pair were fishing on the Butler County side of the river; the other side is in Hamilton County.
A 911 caller told Butler County Sheriff’s Office dispatchers his friend was swimming when “the current got him and I have not saw him for five minutes.”
Later, the caller said the current was “way too strong” for him to enter the river.
“I couldn’t help him,” the caller said.
Dive teams that attempted to find Zehr Saturday night returned to the scene Sunday morning, Colerain Twp. dispatchers said. The Butler County Sheriff’s Office Emergency Response Services Team (ERS) and the Task Force One Dive Team were called to the scene along with multiple other agencies.
“The river may look shallow in areas giving the illusion of a fun time but make no mistake swift currents and undertow can turn deadly in seconds,” Butler County Sheriff Rick Jones said in a statement.
Roberts said the river’s current is “very deceiving.”
He was thankful Zehr’s body was located so his family could get “closure.”
Roberts said it was a “very difficult” weekend for law enforcement and firefighters from several jurisdictions who dealt with double deaths.
“With all that’s going on in this country, people don’t see this side of the job,” Roberts said, referring to the racial unrest around the country.
These deaths illustrate the potential danger of the water.
Last year in Ohio there were 14 media-reported drowning deaths of kids 15 or younger, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Only Texas (34), Florida (23), and California (19) had more.
More than 3,700 people in the U.S. drowned in 2017, including more than 700 under the age of 14, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics.
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