(The following story by Dan Murtaugh appeared on the Mobile Register website on July 29.)
CROSSROADS, Ala. — The search for a missing CSX railroad employee ended early Wednesday when rescue workers spotted the Mobile man’s body floating in the Tensaw River.
Marion Keasler, 47, was found at about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, nearly 27 hours after he disappeared early Tuesday, according to James Phillips, spokesman for the North Baldwin Sheriff’s Search and Rescue squad.
The cause of death has yet to be determined, although the man probably drowned, said Baldwin County Coroner Huey Mack Sr., who investigated the death. Mack said he saw no external injuries that would have killed Keasler.
The Mobile office of the state Department of Forensic Sciences will conduct an autopsy today, Mack said.
Keasler’s body was found about 130 yards north of a railroad bridge he apparently fell from Tuesday morning, Phillips said. Keasler was not wearing a life jacket, he said.
Keasler’s job for CSX Transportation was to tend the long trestle over the Tensaw River in northwest Baldwin County, Phillips said Tuesday. When large boats or barges approached, he would rotate a section of the span near the center so they could pass.
On Tuesday, Keasler was driving a small, motorized cart westward on the trestle when it derailed on the bridge over the river at about 4:40 a.m., according to Capt. Michael Patrick of the Alabama Marine Police, who headed the investigation.
Keasler got off the car, called CSX headquarters to request help, and then sometime later in the morning, apparently fell off the bridge, Patrick said.
The recovery of his body Wednesday morning ended the investigation for the Marine Police, Patrick said.
“This pretty much confirms it was an accidental thing that he fell off the bridge,” Patrick said.
Patrick said he expects CSX to continue investigating the incident. Representatives from CSX could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Rescue workers had searched the river and its banks from about 8 a.m. until 10:30 p.m. Tuesday with no results. They looked along the banks to see if Keasler had managed to swim ashore or been washed up along them, and dragged the bottom of the river searching for his body.
Volunteers with the North Baldwin Sheriff’s Search and Rescue and Lower Alabama Search and Rescue teams and the Crossroads Volunteer Fire Department began searching again at 7 a.m. Wednesday, Phillips said.
They drove boats south from Cliff’s Landing — the command center for the search — to the rail bridge, Phillips said. On their way back, one of the volunteers spotted Keasler’s body, which had emerged about 130 yards north of the tracks, Phillips said.
Keasler’s body probably had been submerged at the bottom of the river, about 30 feet below the surface, Phillips said.
Some members of Keasler’s family were at Cliff’s Landing when his body was recovered, but left shortly thereafter.