2 Missing Men Found Dead in New York, 1 in River
State officials frantically searched for two men who separately went missing in New York State.
On Tuesday, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation released its DEC Forest Rangers - Week in Review.
Working with other state agencies, local emergency response organizations, and volunteer search and rescue groups, Forest Rangers locate and extract lost, injured, or distressed people from across New York State.
Among the new items were two separate search and rescue missions. Unfortunately, both were found dead.
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On March 12 at 10:50 a.m., DEC Forest Rangers were notified that New York State Police was searching for a subject who potentially fell into the Cohocton River in the Town of Campbell, Steuben County
On March 13, at the request of NYSP, Rangers readied the DEC airboat while additional Rangers conducted linear searches along the shoreline.
On March 14, the Forest Ranger airboat crew located the subject deceased near an island on the river. Rangers packaged the body onto the airboat and transported the subject to the coroner.
The deceased was identified as 79-year-old Eugene Mattoon of Savona.
On March 16 at 12:30 p.m., Ray Brook Dispatch requested Forest Ranger assistance in the search for a subject overdue from hiking in the High Peaks in the Town of North Elba, Essex County
The 63-year-old missing man's car was located in the Adirondak Loj parking lot with the trail register entry on March 11, stating his destination of Mount Colden via the Trap Dike with an anticipated return of March 13.
In partnership with State Police Aviation, DEC Forest Rangers deployed air, sled, and foot operations and were joined by NYSP Investigators, DEC Emergency Management, New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, and Trained Rescue Climbers on March 16 and 17, with no result.
On March 18, a Forest Ranger and volunteer rescuer located the subject, Thomas Howard, deceased in the Trap Dike. Howard was packaged and lowered to Avalanche Lake using a steep angle rescue system.
The NYSP helicopter transported the deceased to Lake Placid Airport and the County Coroner. 27 Rangers worked tirelessly on this recovery mission over three days, officials say.