Another unreliable Cadaver dog for you Gerry...

by Guest 22.05.14 1:03

Missing UM-Dearborn student found using boat, cadaver dog
Published: Wednesday, May 21, 2014

UM-Dearborn student Xianru Du’s body was found Tuesday in the Rouge River, a quarter-mile from where he went missing.

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DEARBORN — Xianru Du, the missing University of Michigan-Dearborn student, was found dead in the Rouge River Tuesday by a Department of Natural Resources (DNR) conservation officer after a week-long search.

“The conditions had improved enough that they were able to get out on the water again to look for the subject,” said Lt. David Malloch, DNR Law Enforcement supervisor for southeast Michigan.

A DNR conservation officer, working with a Michigan State Police trooper and cadaver dog, located Du’s body after searching less than an hour. Malloch said there was concern that the Rouge River was running high because of recent rains and that might have carried the body further downstream. However, he said the officer used his training to search where he thought the body would be.

“Being familiar with the area, they went wherever they suspected the body would be,” he said. “And within 40 minutes they located the body.”

Conservation Officer Jason Smith brought his patrol boat to the scene where Du, a 27-year-old Plymouth resident, had one week earlier entered the water to try to help a friend who had fallen in.

Smith located Du’s body about a quarter-mile from the spot where witnesses saw the pair enter the water, according to the DNR. Then, the Michigan State Police trooper contacted Dearborn police, who called the Downriver Mutual Aid Dive Team from Grosse Ile for assistance.

According to witnesses, Du, who was pursuing a Ph.D. in information systems engineering, was trying to help a friend who entered the river behind the Henry Ford Estate on May 13. The 23-year-old Dearborn Heights woman, also a University of Michigan-Dearborn student, was found about 100 yards south on the shore of the river of where they were originally seen and treated at an area hospital for non-life threatening injuries.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of this young man,” Malloch said in a statement. “I want to commend all of the involved officers for their great work in locating this individual and giving his family some closure.”

Malloch said that conservation officers receive specialized training to find drowning victims and often bring that skill to situations like this one.

Contact Staff Writer Aysha Jamali at ajamali@digitalfirstmedia.com.