Authorities have finally found the body of semi truck driver who crashed into a North Carolina river in December.
Family members have confirmed to WCTI12 that a body found over the weekend is 31 year old truck driver Richard White.
White went missing on December 9 in Kinston, North Carolina, when his semi truck crashed off of a Highway 70 bridge through a guardrail down into the Neuse River below. When authorities arrived on the scene, they found White’s truck submerged in the river, but White himself was nowhere to be found.
Trucker missing after rig skids off highway into Neuse River in Kinston :: https://t.co/C0URMBjKDQ https://t.co/zDKArZsbTA pic.twitter.com/DMO1qktlWJ
— WeatherOne (@WxOneNews) December 9, 2018
Multiple agencies searched to try to find the missing truck driver, with divers battling harsh cold temperatures to try to locate White in the river, but they were unsuccessful. After several days of looking without finding White, the search efforts were scaled back.
Finally, on January 19, after receiving a tip from some duck hunters, crews located a body and pulled it out of the river at a boar ramp in Kinston. It was later confirmed to be White.
White’s sister Tonya White says that she is grateful that the search is over and that her brother’s body has been returned to the family. “My brother was a kind, humble and loving person. We are so glad that he has been found and now our family has closure,” she said.
Police are still unsure why White lost control and crashed off of the bridge, but they say that the roadway was “extremely wet” at the time of the crash.