Tracking dogs and more than 20 people, including search-and-rescue teams from Grand and Summit counties, searched a 2-mile stretch of the Colorado River for three days, looking for a Cherry Creek School District administrator who fell out of a raft Saturday.
“I believe if he was on the surface or on land, we would have found him,” said Grand County Sheriff Randy Johnson. “We don’t believe he is on the surface of the water.”
The federal Bureau of Land Management, which routinely sends personnel to patrol the river on weekends, will continue looking for the body of Eric M. Kophs, 42, on Friday as they perform their regular duties, Johnson said.
Although Kophs was an experienced outdoorsman, authorities said he was not wearing a life preserver and had a pair of fishing waders on.
Most of those who die on the river aren’t wearing life jackets, Johnson said. “I don’t care how much experience you have, it diminishes your chance for survival. You are just rolling the dice.”
The waders could have made it more difficult for Kophs to escape the river. “Waders would tire you out faster and cause you mobility problems, and if you are fighting fatigue, that would be bad.”
Kophs, director of elementary education for Cherry Creek schools, started as a teacher in 1995.
“Every part of the Cherry Creek School District is brokenhearted at this time,” Superintendent Mary Chesley said Tuesday morning.
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
