Prineville, Ore. – A Redmond man was recovered from approximately 90 feet of water at Prineville Reservoir Monday morning following a multi-day search involving several Central Oregon emergency response agencies.
The Crook County Sheriff’s Office identified the man as 39-year-old Ricardo Toribio Amezcua of Redmond. Authorities say Amezcua was the sole occupant of a kayak and was not wearing a life jacket when the incident occurred.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, Crook County 9-1-1 began receiving multiple calls at approximately 5:49 p.m. Saturday, August 29th, reporting a person in distress in the water north of the Powder House Cove Day Use Area.
Dispatchers had difficulty obtaining additional information from callers because of poor cellular service in the area.
Deputies from the Crook County Sheriff’s Office and medics from Crook County Fire & Rescue responded, along with AirLink and a drone operator from the Prineville Police Department.
First responders located a kayak near the north shoreline of the reservoir, but initially could not locate anyone in or around it.
An AirLink crew landed near the shoreline and discovered the kayak was upside down. A backpack and fishing pole remained with the kayak, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
A CCSO marine deputy later arrived and continued searching the area with assistance from the Prineville Police Department’s drone. After several hours without locating the missing person, authorities suspended the search until additional resources could arrive.
The search resumed Sunday after CCSO requested assistance from dive rescue teams with both the Klamath and Deschutes County sheriff’s offices.
Klamath County’s Dive Rescue team brought a boat equipped with side-scan sonar, which eventually located a person approximately 90 feet below the surface after several hours of searching.
Authorities planned to recover the body Sunday, but the effort was postponed until the following morning because of issues involving safety equipment.
On Monday, August 31st, members of the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office Dive Rescue team recovered Amezcua from the reservoir.
Investigators determined Amezcua had been alone in the kayak and was using it to fish. The Sheriff’s Office said he was not wearing a life jacket.
Authorities said the death appears to have been a “tragic accident” and that no foul play is suspected.
The Crook County Sheriff’s Office extended its condolences to Amezcua’s family, who have been notified.
The response and recovery involved numerous agencies, including Crook County Fire & Rescue, AirLink, Prineville Police Department, Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office Dive Rescue, Klamath County Sheriff’s Office Dive Rescue, Crook County 9-1-1, Redmond Police Department, Oregon State Parks & Recreation, the Deschutes/Crook County Medical Examiner’s Office, Crook County District Attorney’s Office and Whispering Pines Funeral Home.
No additional information was released by the Sheriff’s Office.
Mr. Alderman is an investigative journalist specializing in government transparency, non-profit accountability, consumer protection, and is a subject matter expert on Oregon’s public records and meetings laws. As a former U.S. Army Military Police Officer, he brings a disciplined investigative approach to his reporting that has frequently exposed ethics violations, financial mismanagement, and transparency failures by public officials and agencies.
