A body believed to be that of missing rafter Reid Litwack has been recovered from the Rogue River following a multiday search that began after the 65-year-old disappeared during a rafting accident at Wildcat Rapid.
The Josephine County Sheriff’s Office reported that the body was located and recovered Saturday afternoon, Aug. 8, in the Wild and Scenic section of the Rogue River. Authorities believe the recovered person is Litwack, although formal identification remains pending through the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office. His next of kin has been notified.
The recovery followed a report received two days earlier from an unrelated rafting party that had encountered a body downstream from the location where Litwack disappeared.
At approximately 11:14 a.m. Friday, Aug. 7, 911 dispatchers received a message transmitted through a GPS device reporting the discovery. The information prompted the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office to organize a recovery operation involving deputies, Search and Rescue personnel and the Bureau of Land Management.
Deputies launched a raft from Grave Creek and traveled approximately two hours down the Rogue River to reach the area where the body had been reported.
Crews searched the location but were unable to find the body during Friday’s attempt. Markers that had reportedly been placed to identify the location were no longer present when responders arrived.
The recovery effort resumed Saturday morning.
At approximately 10:46 a.m. Aug. 8, deputies again launched from Grave Creek and traveled into the Wild and Scenic section of the Rogue River to continue searching the area.
Several hours later, deputies located the body.
At approximately 2:01 p.m., dispatchers received a satellite text message from deputies confirming that the body had been found and recovered. Search and Rescue personnel were then notified and traveled to Black Bar Lodge to meet the deputies and assist with transportation following the recovery.
The Sheriff’s Office subsequently reported that the recovered body is believed to be Litwack, who had been missing since a rafting accident four days earlier.
The original emergency was reported at approximately 1:16 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 4, when 911 received a message through a Garmin GPS device from a rafting party at Wildcat Rapid. The group reported that one of its members was missing following an accident.
Authorities said Litwack had been traveling in an inflatable raft when the raft became pinned in the rapid. He was swept underwater and did not resurface.
Garmin personnel assisted dispatchers with communications with the rafting party while the Sheriff’s Office, Search and Rescue volunteers and Bureau of Land Management personnel coordinated a response.
At approximately 5:30 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 5, deputies and BLM personnel began hiking into the area. After several hours, responders reached the rafting party. The remaining members of the group were able to hike out, while arrangements were made to transport and secure their equipment farther downriver.
Litwack could not be located during the initial response.
The case remained open as a missing-person search until the unrelated rafting party reported seeing a body downstream on Friday. That report shifted the operation toward locating and recovering the person from the river.
The first attempt Friday was unsuccessful, requiring deputies to return the following morning and travel the river again. The body was ultimately located Saturday afternoon and removed from the area.
The recovery involved personnel from the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office, Josephine County Search and Rescue and the Bureau of Land Management, with assistance connected to Black Bar Lodge during the transportation phase of the operation.
The Sheriff’s Office has not yet announced that the identification is final. Until confirmation is completed by the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office, authorities are identifying the recovered person as a body believed to be Litwack.
The recovery concludes the active river search that began after Litwack disappeared at Wildcat Rapid. Formal identification by the medical examiner remains the outstanding step in the case.