On Saturday, April 28th a City of St. Joseph Police officer attempted to stop a car for an equipment violation. The car was slow to pull over but eventually stopped on Leaf Road and County Road 2 just west of St. Joseph. Upon stopping, the driver, later identified as Michael Henry, age 39, fled the stop on foot and headed west. Stearns County Sheriff Deputies along with several police agencies responded to set up a perimeter in an attempt to locate the driver. The Sheriff’s Office deployed the Office UAV (drone) with FLIR camera to see if a heat signature of the driver could be detected with negative results. After several hours of searching, the driver was not located.
On May 2nd Henry’s father contacted the Sheriff’s Office to report Henry as a missing person. In an attempt to locate Henry, Sheriff’s deputies tried to ping Henry’s phone but were unsuccessful.
The next day, Sheriff’s deputies resumed the search. A scent article was obtained to help conduct a K9 search with a Sheriff’s Office bloodhound. The UAV was used for an aerial search near the original traffic stop location. Neither were successful in locating Henry.
At approximately 3:30 p.m., a deputy searching near the southfork of the Watab River located the submerged body of Henry. The body was located approximately a quarter of a mile from the original traffic stop.
Stearns County Sheriff’s Office Investigators responded to the scene to conduct an investigation. All indications show Henry had been in the water for some time. The river is approximately 18-24 inches deep in this location and the water temperature is approximatley 50 degrees. The river, in most cases, is 10-12 feet across.
Investigators attempted to locate the probable path that Henry may have taken on Saturday, April 28th. Henry was transported to the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office for an official determination of the cause of death.
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