The body of Warrenton resident Nathan Ashby, 22, was pulled from the Missouri River Dec. 29, along with his pickup truck. Ashby had been missing since July 2019.

Recovering the truck took the combined effort of several emergency agencies and volunteer teams from as far away as the west coast. 

Warren County Sheriff Kevin Harrison said the St. Louis County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed the remains belong to Ashby using dental records.

Harrison said the circumstances leading to Ashby’s death are under investigation. He said the sheriff’s department is awaiting the result of a full forensic examination before drawing any conclusions.

The truck in the river was first identified as a potential lead on Ashby’s whereabouts in August 2019, Harrison said, after the Marthasville Fire Protection District found the vehicle using sonar equipment. At the same time, the sheriff said investigators were also getting tips about Ashby being spotted in other surrounding areas, and were holding out hope he might be found alive.

Nevertheless, the Missouri State Water Patrol Division and the Metro West Fire Dive Team were contacted to assess a recovery operation. Those teams determined that prolonged flooding and swift currents on the Missouri River created too much risk at the time, Harrison said.

Then in mid-November, recovery diver Jared Leisek of Adventures With Purpose out of Bend, Ore., said he was made aware of Ashby’s case. Leisek said viewers of his team’s YouTube video series about diving and recovery operations sent them news reports about Ashby’s disappearance and the truck in the river. The team reached out to Ashby’s family, and began coordinating a possible recovery with the sheriff’s department.

During a narrow window in December, when water level and current had finally dropped to be relatively safe, Leisek’s team made the 32-hour drive to Warren County, and Leisek was in the water Dec. 29.

He said in 13 years of diving, he has never done a more difficult operation.

“It was definitely my most mentally and physically challenging dive I have ever done in my entire career,” Leisek said. 

He explained that while dropping to a depth of about 20 feet, he was also fighting against the river current, pulling himself along an anchor line to reach the truck. He worked with near-zero visibility in the muddy water, conducting several dives as water level and current speed rose throughout the day.

“I almost gave up on the last dive … my forearms were on fire,” Leisek commented. “But I knew I had to finish this.”

Leisek first had to explore the vehicle entirely by touch. He was able to reach through a window and check for possible human remains. Leisek was also able to remove the license plate, which confirmed that it was Ashby’s vehicle. He then attached the cables that allowed the vehicle to be pulled from the river.

Also assisting in the recovery operation were Team Watters Sonar Search and Rescue out of Moro, Ill., Patriot Towing from Washington, and several local residents who lent use of their boats and support. Every one of them offered their assistance free of charge, Harrison said.

In all, the operation to locate and identify the truck, then pull it from the river, took about nine hours.