Published: April 15, 2009 11:55 pm         

Sonar crew joins river search

As local divers scoured the Conasauga River and a boat crew swept the depths with sonar, Winston Hackney had questions — and a suggestion or two — about the disappearance of his son, Waylon Keith “Bo” Hackney.

The 38-year-old went fishing by himself on Sunday afternoon and never returned to his father’s residence on Brown Bridge Road in southwestern Murray County.

“I feel it in my heart and gut that something happened to him,” he said while scanning the river downstream where crews were searching a 300-yard section below his mobile home. “But I don’t know that Bo had any enemies.”

Hackney said a friend was supposed to go fishing with his son on Easter Sunday, but when the friend got to the river bank where they were to meet, Bo was gone. Authorities have found no sign of criminal activity.

“The boy’s daddy told me he saw Bo in the boat fishing while it was tied to the bank,” he said. “He said he was sitting on the middle seat. When the boy got there later and saw that Bo wasn’t there, he looked all over for him. If the boat slipped off the limb it was tied to, Bo may have panicked and tried to grab a limb and fell off (the boat). That could have been what knocked his hat off.”

When searchers found the boat around midnight on Sunday in a brush pile 1.8 miles downstream from the mobile home park, the brown ball cap he wore was inside, along with unused bait, cigarettes and an unopened pack of hot dogs.

“He knew how to swim but he would never get on the river by himself,” Hackney said, “especially the way it was up on Sunday. Bo was scared that way.”

Sgt. John VanLandingham of the state Department of Natural Resources said the Forsyth County Water Rescue squad was using a “side scan sonar unit” in the search.

“The sonar unit was involved in a recovery (of a body) Sunday on the Etowah River,” he said. “We’re focusing on this area (300 yards downstream) because a couple of cadaver dogs on boats caught a scent in the area.”

VanLandingham said an Alpha Team K-9 Search and Rescue unit from the Atlanta area “marked spots” for six Murray County divers on three teams.

“A K-9 alert can mean a lot of things,” he said. “They always hit on something, but they can give ‘false positives’ on gas emitting from rotting logs and other things. The water is clearing up more and the river has come down approximately a foot. If the sun is out, it also helps the divers see better.”

Murray County Sheriff Howard Ensley downplayed a criminal scenario.

“We don’t see any signs of foul play at this time,” Ensley said. “We’re moving, say, a block at a time and searching thoroughly, then moving on downstream. We won’t quit until we find him. We won’t terminate the search at all.”

The search will resume today at 8 a.m. The current effort follows an extensive search in February and March in the Conasauga River for Brett Thomason, 19, of Dalton. He was found by his father in the river on March 14.

     

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