Coast Guard halts search for missing boater

The Coast Guard has suspended its search for an apparently missing Sandy, Ore., boater after searching, by boat and helicopter, more than 50 square miles of the Columbia River.

Emergency crews were first sent out to a report of a boater in distress Sunday morning, after a small fishing boat was found adrift with none on board.

Later, Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Levi Read said deputies with the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office checked at the home of the boat’s owner — Brian Schmitz, 52 — and found no one was home. Then, Multnomah County sheriff’s deputies found his car at the Chinook Landing Marine Park on the Oregon side of the river, he said.

A helicopter did three passes over the area, and a boat from the Coast Guard’s Portland station covered 53 square miles, traveling 287 miles, between Kelley Point and Reed Island, but found nothing.

Searchers were looking for any sign of distress or trouble, he said, but it wasn’t clear what happened. The Coast Guard suspended its search at 1 a.m. Monday.

All signs pointed to someone having been on the boat, he said: There were personal items, fishing tackle and ice inside the empty 16-foot Alumiweld boat.

“But we never found anything, anyone,” he said. “All signs point to somebody being aboard that boat at some point, but they didn’t make it back.”

Read said the Coast Guard’s efforts would be suspended until more information comes to light.