ELYRIA, Ohio — Members of the Elyria Police and Fire departments, the Elyria Water Rescue Team and other local agencies are searching the Black River for a missing teen.
The search began shortly after 8 a.m. following a report from Elyria Police that a 24-year-old man had entered the police headquarters, stating that his 16-year-old friend, Vincent Pabon, had fallen into the river behind the station and had not resurfaced.
Investigators said the man and the teen had accessed a spot near the river by a trail behind the station and were drinking alcohol at the time.
The man told officers he tried to pull the male teen out of the water but fell in himself. He said he was eventually able to make it back to the riverbank, but saw no sign of the teen.
"We are in communication with the 24-year-old. We're continuing to gain an understanding of exactly the timeline of activities just to make sure that we're not missing anything," Elyria Police Capture. Bill Lantz said.
The Elyria Fire Department and other local agencies searched the river with divers, boats, sonar and drones equipped with thermal imaging.
“It is my understanding that area was accessed as well as it safely could be accessed with the equipment and the resources that they had. From there we are looking at the information that we have and we’re continuing to determine how we can deploy continuing resources,” Lantz said.
He said the area where the teen reportedly fell into the river is a challenging environment. He explained the water is 20-25 feet deep downstream from the waterfall at East Falls Riverwalk, and search teams had to navigate obstacles.
“It’s like an old structure or building and there’s a concrete overhang that has water underneath it. The divers made their best effort to get under that and assess it," Lantz told News 5. "We’ve not made any headway with locating the juvenile."
He said Lorain County Metroparks is helping search the river further downstream.
The teen's family told officers they pinged the teen's phone to the spot where he fell around 4:30 a.m.
Police are working with the cell phone company to try and ping the teen's phone again.
According to a news release from Elyria Police, the 24-year-old man has been charged with tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony, and contributing to the unruliness of a minor, a first-degree misdemeanor.
Police said additional charges may be forthcoming.
Lantz confirmed, after 12 hours of searching on Thursday, that they had wrapped up for the day.
Search teams will be back out at 8 a.m. on Friday.
