Story Body: BY LEIGH LANDINI WRIGHT
Sgt. Tony Rendleman doesn't want praise.
He simply did his job as an officer of the Illinois Conservation Police when he and his crew discovered the bodies of Jacob Scott and McKenzie Stanley, two teenage duck hunters from Mayfield who went missing Jan. 10.
"If they're happy, we're happy," Rendleman said of the families who waited 45 days for the recovery.
Illinois Conservation Police used three types of sonar scanning equipment, Rendleman said: side scan, marine sonic towfish and an underwater radar. The Illinois crew found the body of Trevor Williams on Jan. 11 and the bodies of Scott and Stanley on Tuesday.
"This has been a mission," Rendleman said. "This one here was a lot more difficult because we didn't have the location where they went in. We found them pass after pass. I was happy for that family."
Rescue squads and other searchers looked for the bodies using sonar equipment, divers and cadaver dogs. Independent teams from Texas and Illinois also assisted. Teams fought cold conditions, choppy waters and harsh winds throughout the search, and Marshall County suspended the search as the ice storm approached in late January. The county turned the search over to Kentucky Emergency Management two weeks ago.
Dennis and Tammy Watters, a competitive crappie fishing couple from Moro, Ill., traveled to Kentucky several times to help with the search at the request of one of the families and a local volunteer fire department. Dennis Watters said Wednesday that his sonar detected suspicious images, and he sought help from Illinois Conservation Police to confirm the images using the marine sonic towfish.
Rendleman compared the towfish sonar to an MRI. The equipment can take a picture from the bottom of the lake or river, he said. The bodies were on the bottom of the lake in more than 50 feet of water. Watters said they were in the old Tennessee River channel, not the shipping channel or a bay.
"Basically, we weren't looking far enough over," Watters said. "These kids were difficult to see even after we found them."
Earlier searches had mapped off areas of interest. From the shore, it appeared that the areas were near the river channel rather than in the bay.
"The previous searches proved extremely helpful by eliminating areas that were searched and turned up nothing," said Don Franklin of the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management, which assumed control of the search from Marshall County. "Basically, we established a grid search that moved from one area to another by the process of elimination. We knew where they were not and moved to the next established search area."
Rendleman and Watters both said the current, rough waters at times, wind direction, a lock and dam, and the terrain complicate Kentucky Lake searches. Watters said when they found the boys late Tuesday afternoon, the water stilled and became smooth like glass, which Watters called an ideal condition.
Once they located the bodies, they sent down markers, Rendleman said. A diver then went into the water using a rope and brought the body up.
"Usually we're within the first hour and we're done," Rendleman said. "We were with the first young man. But this was a different kind of lake. The biggest problem was that no one knew exactly where the boat went down."
Rendleman credited his crew — Chris Mohrman, Kris Taylor and Phil Boston — along with the Watterses for helping with the search and recovery. He also said they train several times a week.
"It's important to remember that they're not flawless," Rendleman said of the sonar. "We're just glad for all three families. We're happy to do it for them."
Contact Leigh Landini Wright, a Paducah Sun staff writer, at 270-575-8658.
Publication: Paducah Sun
Publication Date: 2/26/09
