08-05-2025
Search continues for Knox man involved in Laurel Lake boating accident
SOUTH LAUREL — Search efforts for a missing man remain underway following a boat accident Sunday afternoon.
John Myrick, 26, of Gray, is described as wearing a gray and black jacket and blue jean pants.
Myrick went missing from the capsized boat in water off East City Dam Road, in southern Laurel County, at approximately 12:15 p.m. Sunday. One other person reportedly escaped the water and hospitalized but has since been released.
'They told me the water is 28 feet deep there; it's really murky; and the water temperature is about 60 degrees so they can't stay under water very long,' Gilbert Acciardo, Public Affairs Deputy at the Laurel County Sheriff's, said Tuesday as the search stretched into a third day. 'That has tampered the efforts of attempting to locate this individual.'
Agencies involved consist of area fire departments and emergency responders, including London-Laurel County Rescue Squad, Laurel County DPS and Emergency Management, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife, Kentucky State Police, the Laurel County Sheriff's Office, Corbin Fire Department, Woodbine Fire & Rescue, Laurel-Whitley County Emergency Management, and Area 9 Emergency Management director.
Laurel Sheriff's Deputy Austyn Weddle is leading the missing persons investigation, assisted by Deputy Robert Reed.
Crews had focused their search around the 312 Dam area. Search operations for Myrick have so far been temporarily suspended overnight and then resumed each morning.
On Tuesday, the London-Laurel Rescue Squad reported that crews utilized rope, K9s, divers, underwater cameras, and sonar equipment.
Myrick remained missing as of press time Wednesday.
