ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — It’s been two weeks since a family went over a dam on the Dan River, an incident which left four dead and one still missing.
Rockingham County Emergency Services Director Rodney Cates said the department does not plan to have crews searching on the river on Wednesday. Crews also did not search on Tuesday.
Cates said the search is now a recovery effort with the assumption that the last missing tuber—35-year-old Teresa Villano, of Eden—is dead.
“The two-week mark confirms the magnitude of this tragedy for the family of the missing victim,” Cates said. “It further confirms that this is now a recovery effort. Having located nothing in our numerous searches over the last two weeks, the two-week mark verifies to all responders that nothing was overlooked and we did exhaust all resources in the target search area. We will continue to follow up on any, and all, leads that we receive.”
On Wednesday, June 16, an Eden family went tubing with relatives visiting from La Porte, Indiana. The nine family members went tubing on the Dan River around 7:30 p.m., just before dark. At some point, the tubes went over a Duke Energy dam in Eden.
Four people were rescued, three of which were teenagers.
Those rescued were three members of the Eden family—35-year-old Rueben Villano, 14-year-old Eric Villano and 18-year-old Irene Villano—as well as 14-year-old Karlos Villano, of La Porte, Indiana.
Four bodies have been recovered from the river. The bodies recovered were those of Eden family members 7-year-old Isiah Crawford, 27-year-old Bridish Crawford and 30-year-old Antonio Ramon, as well as 14-year-old Sophia Wilson, of La Porte, Indiana.
Isiah Crawford’s body was found on Sunday after someone called 911 around 10:02 a.m. and reported seeing a body in the water.
35-year-old Teresa Villano, of Eden, is still missing.
