Rest in Peace Ryan, Finally.
On Tuesday evening, authorites pulled Ryan Katcher’s truck from a deep pond in Kickapoo State Park near his house in Oakwood, IL. Ryan’s body was still inside the truck. For those of you who don’t know, Ryan Katcher was one of my roommates at the University of Illinois when he went missing on November 5, 2000. There had been no sign of him or his truck in nearly six years. On Monday, while testing new sonar equipment, authorities detected the truck 50 feet underwater. On Tuesday, divers recovered items from the truck confirming it was Ryan’s, and by Tuesday evening, Ryan’s truck, with his body still inside, had been towed out of the pond. It now appears that Ryan lost control of his truck very early that Sunday morning and drove into the pond. The depth and conditions of the pond made the truck undetectable by previous sonar scans and diver combings, but the new technology was able to detect the outline of the truck. An autopsy determined the cause of death was drowning, and there was no sign of foul play.
Commercial News, a local paper from Danville, IL, is doing the best job covering the story. Articles have appeared in papers across the country, including this one in the Chicago Tribune and this one in the Champaign News-Gazette.
The combination of emotions I’ve had over the past few days has been unlike anything I’ve felt in my life. Initially, obviously, I was shocked. As much as I held out hope, I no longer expected Ryan’s truck or body to ever be found. Then it hit me that Ryan had actually died. Although I didn’t think Ryan would turn up alive, in my mind Ryan had always been ‘missing’, as if the uncertainty in the term left room for a possibility he was ok, but that is no longer the case. Ryan died that November Sunday morning. Those days and weeks we spent searching the rural Oakwood area and posting flyers all over central Illinois, he was at the bottom of that pond. Who knows how many people looking for him actually drove right past him, me included? Over five years without a single lead had sadly and inevitably led to countless rumors and speculation. And the entire time, Ryan was in the same place at the bottom of that pond.
However, more than any other emotion, these last couple days have been filled with relief. While the days, weeks, months, and years after Ryan’s disappearance were agonizing for his family and friends, it is good to know that they were not the same for him. For the past 5 and a half years, Ryan has been reunited with his father. Ryan died that November Sunday morning. He had died and was reunited with his father hours before anyone even suspected he was missing. Ryan did not share in the agony that ensued. He had already met his final resting place, and he was at peace with his father and with God. Finally, with the discovery, all of the questions will be answered, the rumors will cease, and finally, for everyone involved, after 5 years, 8 months, and 21 days, Ryan can rest in peace.