NEW ORLEANS – Police have confirmed that a body pulled from the Mississippi River Tuesday morning is that of missing Houston oil executive Doug Schantz.
The body was recovered by Texas EquuSearch very near where police believe Schantz, 54, fell into the water.
"We went out and got a clear picture of it right away," Texas EquuSearch founder Tim Miller said. "So then we just brought it up."
Police said there were several coworkers of Schantz's at the scene who identified the body, and Schantz's personal belongings were still in his possession.
Schantz, the president of Houston-based Sequent Energy Management, had been missing since Friday. He went to New Orleans to make a donation to Tulane University, where his daughter is a senior.
New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley said Schantz was caught on surveillance video near the river around 2:40 a.m. Friday, and that he appeared disoriented.
Riley said various surveillance cameras showed Schantz heading out of the French Quarter bar down to the Natchez river boat, where he walked along a 2- to 3-foot-wide gang plank before disappearing from view.
He was not seen again on surveillance tapes after that.
It does not seem that Schantz was the victim of foul play, which had earlier been suspected, Riley said.
"At no point in that 36 minutes was he ever approached or accompanied by any individual," Riley said.
Riley said Schantz had been drinking at the bar that night.
On Monday, a Coast Guard helicopter searched 20 miles down-river but found no sign of Schantz.
Texas Equusearch arrived in New Orleans late Monday to do a sonar search of the river. They began looking next to the Natchez Tuesday morning, but bad weather forced them to call off the search briefly. The main problem was the riverboat itself, Miller said.
"We started where we think he went in and thought we’d have him in 30 minutes," Miller said. "But this paddlewheel causes a lot of underwater turbulence and the boat has been in and out seven times since Friday morning."
The current along the French Quarter shore was running at almost 4 miles an hour, and there was heavy debris under the water there, Miller said.With the water temperature at just 34 degrees, Miller said the body would not pop to the surface quickly.
"I almost hope it is caught in debris," Miller said. "If it gets out in that current it will travel. There was another one went in at almost the same spot and they didn’t recover it for 12 days and it was 54 miles downstream."
The body was recovered a few hours later, once search efforts resumed.
Schantz was reported missing Friday after he failed to show up for a meeting.
Police said there has been no activity on his credit card or cell phone, and his hotel room appeared to be untouched.
Schantz’s family and coworkers launched their own search effort in New Orleans over the weekend, passing out fliers in the French Quarter and offering a $25,000 reward for information that would bring the missing executive home.
"This is a huge deal. Everyone loved my dad," Schantz’s son, Michael, said.
New Orleans police said the FBI, U.S. Marshals and U.S. Coast Guard participated in the investigation.
