Drowning victim found in McKenzie River Sunday
Published: March 28, 2011
By Craig Murphy Springfield Times Editor
Authorities found the body of a missing Eugene man Sunday evening in Springfield. Around 6:45 p.m. Sunday, Lane County Sheriff's Marine Patrol and Search and Rescue personnel, along with a volunteer dive team, found the body of Warren C. Moran Jr., 59. The McKenzie Fire Department and Oregon State Patrol helped in the search.
Moran and two friends – Kenneth S. Maddox of Eugene, 57 and Springfield's Scott D. Halpert, 64 – were on the McKenzie River near McNutt Island Saturday for a fishing trip when their drift boat hit a drowned tree in the water. The snag overturned the boat. Lt. Byron Trapp with the Sheriff's Office said the incident happened about a mile up from Deerhorn Road in the Hendricks Bridge Park area of Springfield where the river channel splits around a large island. Maddox was operating the boat. "It looked like the obstruction was a good sized tree that had fallen from the shore out into the river, blocking a pretty good section of the river," Trapp said. "The drift boat came up against the tree, which had a lot of branches. The current caught the boat and capsized it, then the current pinned the boat into the floor of the river. The boat stayed in that position, as did Mr. Moran."
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