Authorities have "scaled back" efforts to find a Grant County sheriff's deputy who disappeared after diving into Lake Ouachita on Friday night, according to the Montgomery County sheriff's office.
Montgomery County sheriff's office Chief Deputy Will Brakefield said there is still hope of finding Keith Wright alive, though law enforcement’s typical “window of opportunity” for finding someone in similar situations is about three days.
“Outside of that, it has happened,” he said. “But the chances start to get smaller and smaller of a good resolution to this.”
The search has not completely ended. Some crews will continue using a boat to scan the shoreline and lake area daily “for the foreseeable future," Brakefield said.
Wright and another man dove into the water north of Mountain Harbor Resort while boating, but Wright never reappeared, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office.
Montgomery County deputies, along with officials from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, the Arkansas State Police, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies participated in efforts to find Wright.
Authorities said searchers have used sonar, a helicopter and a drone equipped with thermal imaging to aid in the search.
“There is a natural progression from search and rescue to search and recovery, and I think if we’re not at that point we’re very close to it,” Brakefield said.
Authorities said search efforts could be expanded again if further information on the deputy’s location becomes available.
“I’ve been doing this for 10 years and some of these Game and Fish officers have been doing this a lot longer than I have," Brakefield said. "And having no new leads, no new evidence pointing us in another direction is rare. We’re at a loss as to which direction we need to point our resources in.”