Body of missing man who reportedly jumped into Mullet River to save dog recovered

Updated 2:00 p.m. October 5, 2019

PLYMOUTH, Wis. (CBS 58) -- The body of 63-year-old Kevan McClintock was recovered from the Mullet River, in an area just outside of Friday's search area.

A group of kayakers called law enforcement around 11:20 a.m. on Saturday to report that they had found a body in the water.

The body was recovered from the river and positively identified as McClintock.

The group of kayakers who found the body were McClintock's friends and family.

"For them to locate their loved one in a larger area of water outside of the initial search area was nothing short of amazing, and humbling. We
truly thank all of them for their efforts today," said Plymouth Police Chief Christopher Ringel in a release.

------

After searching for 63-year-old Kevan McClintock Thursday along the Mullet River bank and with drones, the flooded river had receded enough for the Sheboygan County Dive Team to search Friday.

“We got word from the dive team that the river was safe enough for them to enter for swift water rescue. We did enter from a point where we suspect the individual, Kevan, may have gone into the river,” Deputy Plymouth Police Chief Christopher Ringel said.

Friends and family joined the search for longtime custodian in the Plymouth school district, holding out hope.

“He’d do anything for anybody, and he was always there to train and teach,” friend John Saladini said.

The Plymouth Police Department was notified just more than 12 hours after McClintock went missing after midnight Thursday morning. They searched to the end of their jurisdiction on Friday night.

“After highway 67 it gets wider, it deepens," Ringel said. "It becomes more of a point where you’re searching for a needle in a haystack.

The Mullet River connects to the Sheboygan River, which connects to Lake Michigan.

Ringel says he told the family the search is off, and it’s now day by day.

“If he did by some miraculous way make it past the whole area that we searched, we’ve got a lot of hunters in this area. Somebody will find him.”

Ringel added the river is still moving very fast and stressed that nobody should take it upon themselves to search it for McClintock.