PENN VALLEY – On June 7, 2023, the body of a 20-year-old Stockton man who is believed to have drowned after jumping into the Yuba River near Bridgeport on June 4th was located and recovered approximately one mile downstream from where he was reportedly last seen. According to the man’s friends and family at the scene, the man jumped into the river, went under and did not resurface.
Emergency response teams included:
- Nevada County Search and Rescue
- California State Parks,
- Nevada County Consolidated Fire,
- Penn Valley Fire Department,
- Nevada County Sheriff’s Dive Team,
- and CHP Air Operations.
Despite dangerous river conditions, a swift water rescue team deployed on the water to an area in which crews in the air viewed what may have been a body, however it was nothing more than a submerged boulder.
Search efforts by ground and air continued for days and on June 7th, crews located the body of the missing man and formed a plan to safely recover it from the river. The drowning victim’s identity was confirmed but the release of his name remains pending notification to next of kin.
“Many of the rivers in Northern California are extremely dangerous to enter given the amount of snow that covered our mountains this past winter,” said California Statewide Law Enforcement Association (CSLEA) President Alan Barcelona. “We thank our CSLEA members who work at State Parks for patrolling these areas, advising visitors of the dangers, responding to emergencies such as this one and for all their public safety work.”
