OTTAWA — Firefighters have found the body of an elderly woman who fell into the Marais des Cygnes River this morning. Ottawa Police Chief Dennis Butler said firefighters pulled the woman out the river at the wastewater treatment plant at about 9:30 this morning after a search of the river. He said an Ottawa family had reported an elderly woman missing earlier but he said it was too early to say if that woman was the one pulled out of the river. Butler said he doesn’t know how the woman fell into the river although a witness reported they saw her along the river. The woman who was reported missing didn’t know how to swim. Officers working along the bank had difficulty with the slippery conditions along the river. An autopsy will be performed and until then, it would be difficult to say how the drowning occurred, Butler said. It was the second time in the last few weeks that officers conducted a search of the river. The first search occurred after police received a report of a body in the river but didn’t find a body.
Monday, July 26, 10 a.m.
