Crews with the Oklahoma City Fire Department recovered a body from the Oklahoma River near Portland Avenue on Thursday, turning a familiar stretch of water into the center of a death investigation. Dive team members located the person just after noon, pulled the body to shore and handed the scene over to police, who secured the area while officials began sorting out what happened.
According to News 9, the fire department confirmed the recovery and said its dive team assisted in the operation near Portland Avenue. Early reports suggested the person had been in the water for an extended period before being spotted. The report, filed by Victor A. Pozadas, credited the fire department for information from the scene.
Where It Happened
The stretch of river near Portland Avenue sits south of the city’s boathouse and greenway trails, an area popular with runners, paddlers and river cruises. It is a familiar zone for first responders as well. The Oklahoma City Fire Department has deployed its dive team to this part of the river in past incidents, as KOCO reported in 2023. Those earlier responses underline how hazardous it can be to search murky waterways with limited visibility and shifting currents.
Investigation Underway
The fire department told reporters that the investigation is open and that detectives are working to understand how the person ended up in the water, according to News 9. Officials did not immediately release additional information about the decedent’s identity or the cause of death.
Rivers and Recoveries
Search and recovery operations on Oklahoma waterways have led to difficult and sometimes high profile cases in recent years. A 2022 probe in eastern Oklahoma turned up multiple bodies in a river, as reported by CBS News. Incidents like that highlight how currents, debris and low visibility can complicate identification and autopsy work for first responders and investigators…