Search for father missing in Cuyahoga River continues

Yahoo

07-07-2025

CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio (WJW) — Ten days after he vanished beneath the raging waters of the Cuyahoga River, the search for a 27-year-old father continues.
Patrick Cross was rafting in the river above the falls here when the raft on which he and his five-year-old son Braxton were riding capsized.
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The body of his son was recovered downstream near the Gorge Park the following day, but Patrick, who was last seen in the river near the High Bridge Park, continues.
'We are ten days in now we have allowed our operations to evolve based on the available resources, condition of the river family desires and just the overall difficulty of what we are dealing with,' said Cuyahoga Falls Fire Chief Chris Martin adding 'Our operations right now don't look much like they did a week ago.'
One week ago, the river was raging after previous torrential rains.
'The water was so high that kayakers, even the experienced ones aren't going to come down here and risk running it, the level of water two weekends ago was just incredibly high its not safe to paddle the falls by any means when the river is that high,' said Don Howdyshell, an experienced white water kayaker who also is the coordinator of the Cuyahoga Falls Fest.
Howdyshell said he and members of the Cuyahoga Falls Fest safety team are not only experienced at navigating the dangerous currents when the river is swollen, but they also constantly monitor changes in the river.
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Because of their expertise, they were invited to help the fire department's water team with their search.
'We know every time a rock moves, we know when wood moves in, we know when wood floats down river, we watch for it to come into the falls if it comes up river. We literally study the river, it's what keeps us safe, knowing everything that's going on with the river, with rock shifts or woody debris coming down. The more we know about it, the safer we are, so that goes in with scouting every time we come out here,' Howdyshell said.
'At some point, you are checking the exact same spot dozens and dozens of times, and what we need is for the condition of the river to get to a point where we can actually have some visual help with that. The condition of the river has actually changed dramatically for the better. We are able to get to positions and locations on the river that we are very interested in. We are there now, but it's still not to the point where we can search absolutely everything we need to,' Martin said.
With as many times as some of the same areas have been searched, there are places in the river where searchers are certain Cross is not. And with the evolving water depth and currents, they have used drones to help them search areas of the river that have been difficult to reach.
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'At first, it was the water depth and the speed of the water moving it made conditions really tough to get not only up river but to get to certain parts of the river that were flooded out and hard to access,' said Fire Lt. Ben Kerner, the fire department's Co-water team leader. 'After that, it's been the heat, and the heat played a major role affecting our operations, just getting multiple crews in cycling them through, making sure they are not too exhausted and they are getting proper break time in the shade. Now that the water is down its also equally hard to access certain areas by boat so we are finding that we are going on foot a lot more, going on banks getting up to chest deep in water poking into strainers and other objects that we couldn't see when the water was high.'
The fire department has also had assistance from multiple mutual aid agencies, including the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Summit Metro Parks and others.
Those who have been involved in the difficult, heartbreaking search are being allowed to access counseling during a de-briefing scheduled for Thursday.
With the condition of the river in the search area, as well as access to the area, still dangerous and difficult to navigate, Martin continues to urge citizens not to attempt to join them in their search efforts, assuring the community that the efforts will continue daily at least through Monday, July 7.
'Providing closure at a time like this is extremely difficult. It's heart-wrenching, but really our message to the family and to everyone really is that we are here for the family and we are not going away,' said Martin. 'And our hearts break. It's hard to have these conversations and not break down, yourself. You have got to stay strong and you have to be there for the family, but we are in a position where we have to stay operations-based at the same time.'
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