TRAGIC DISCOVERY:
A renewed effort by the RCMP to find 26-year-old Colton Koop of Swift Current ended on Dec. 8, when the F Division Underwater Recovery Team found his body under the ice in the Swift Current Creek. Koop has been missing since Nov. 16, when the RCMP received a call at approximately 6 a.m. about a red 2014 Dodge Ram 1500 truck that was partially submerged in the creek. The subsequent investigation determined the accident may have occurred as early as 2 a.m. The vehicle was travelling south along 6th Avenue NE when it left the road, crashed through the guard rail, and went down a steep embankment. The Swift Current Fire Department found no occupants in the vehicle and the RCMP Police Dog Service in Swift Current searched the area around the creek. The RCMP Underwater Recovery Team arrived later the same day to assist with the investigation. The team confirmed there were no occupants in the vehicle or in the water immediately under or around the truck. A large crane was used on Nov. 17 to remove the truck from the creek. Since then the RCMP continued the search for Koop and also investigated tips from individuals who claimed that Koop was avoiding the police, but his family and friends were not aware of his whereabouts. Staff Sgt. Gary Hodges of the Swift Current City RCMP held a media briefing on Dec. 7 to ask for the public's assistance to locate Koop. He emphasized that the police was treating the matter as a missing person investigation and Koop was not the subject of a criminal investigation. At the same time the Underwater Recovery Team returned to Swift Current to carry out another search of the creek around the area where the truck fell into the water. They used a sonar scanning device on the ice and also carried out an underwater ice dive. The team found Koop's body on Dec. 8 at about 9:30 a.m. at a site upstream from where the truck came to rest in the creek. The Swift Current City RCMP is continuing the investigation into this vehicle collision. Pictured above: Staff Sgt. Gary Hodges addresses a media briefing at the Swift Current City RCMP detachment, Dec. 7. Next to him are photos of Colton Koop provided to the RCMP by his family.