FAIRFIELD — Officials now believe that the body of a missing Skowhegan woman whose car crashed into Martin Stream Saturday may have floated into the Kennebec River.
Maine Warden Service personnel will fly over the area in a float plane and conduct river searches in a sonar-equipped boat looking for 62-year-old Cora Marley, as weather and time permit, Fairfield police Chief John Emery said Wednesday.
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Maine State Police divers ended their search for Marley Tuesday in Martin Stream.
Matthew Grant, dive team commander for the Maine State Police, said the team conducted another grid search Tuesday in the stream in case Marley’s body was missed during dives late Saturday night and much of Sunday.
Grant said divers had dealt with limited visibility and numerous bottom obstructions in the 20-foot-deep stream.
Family and friends of Marley had watched the search from the stream embankment, bridge and a nearby railroad trestle.
Marley was driving from Waterville to Skowhegan when the single-car crash happened at 8:35 p.m. near the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences on the Good Will-Hinckley campus.
A couple from Canada traveling north behind Marley on U.S. Route 201 told police that Marley’s Pontiac Vibe was operating erratically before it launched off an embankment beside the small bridge and soared more than 60 feet over the stream before it struck an abutment on the opposite embankment and went into the water.
Fairfield police Sgt. Matthew Bard said the couple said they did not see brake lights when the 2004 Silver Vibe went off the road.
Marley’s brother, Ken Gagnon, a former state senator from Waterville, said his sister took medication for diabetes.
Bard said the front windshield and back window were missing when the car was retrieved from the water, and it appeared that Marley was not wearing a seatbelt.
Grant asked anyone who sees something related to the case in the Kennebec River to call 911.
Marley was reportedly wearing a red top and blue jeans Saturday night.
Beth Staples — 861-9252
bstaples@centralmaine.com
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