| DB Admin |
04-03-2008 04:11 PM |
Perry County News
Perry County For ya
Body of man who fled deputies found in creek
Friday, March 21, 2008 6:48 PM
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
MOXAHALA, Ohio — The body of a New Lexington man who had been missing since yesterday was found today in the Moxahala Creek. Brian L. Pettit, 26, was one of a group of men who fled from deputy sheriffs early yesterday morning. Despite not being able to swim, Pettit apparently dove into the creek to avoid capture, said Deputy Pat Corder of the Perry County sheriff's office.
Corder was checking out a report of a suspicious vehicle southeast of New Lexington in rural Perry County, about 50 miles east of Columbus. There, he found an abandoned vehicle and pursued three suspects into the woods east of Rt. 13.
The suspects escaped, but deputies were able to track down two of the men by the car’s registration. Pettit’s family contacted the sheriff’s office yesterday after Pettit failed to make contact with them. They told deputies that he might have been with the men in the car that night.
A search was conducted late yesterday afternoon and Pettit’s body was found in the creek a short distance downstream from where he had jumped in. The stream was swollen from the recent rain and snow melt and moving rapidly, Corder said.
Evidence at the scene links the men to a copper-wire-theft investigation out of Corning, also in Perry County.
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