VideoRay
Locates Snowmobile Driver’s Body in Frigid Waters After
Diver’s Search Suspended
St. Louis County Sheriff's Office
Puts New VideoRay to the Test
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video news coverage: High / Low. (Courtesy KDLH News
Channel 3.)
 Exton,
PA, March 1, 2004 – The St. Louis County Sheriff's
Office and Sheriff's Volunteer Rescue Squad had just received
its new 9-pound VideoRay ROV (remotely operated vehicle) weeks
before
they were called to Ashland, Wisconsin. The Ashland County Sheriff
requested that St. Louis County attempt to locate the body of
44 year-old Tracy Schroeder, whose snowmobile plunged into Chequamegon
Bay on January 16. Divers had previously made 19 difficult dives
in shifting ice in an effort to locate the victim. A diver spent
less than one minute in the 37-degree water recovering the body,
just five hours after the search with the VideoRay began.
About a half-mile from shore, the toaster-oven sized VideoRay
was slipped through a hole in the ice. The body was found in 18
feet of water with the help of SeaSprite
sonar that can navigate
and “see” objects in poor visibility conditions. When
the video-equipped ROV encountered the body, the VideoRay’s
manipulator claw was clamped on an article of clothing to anchor
it until the body could be removed. The recovery team cut the hole
in the ice to remove the body after seeing the ROV’s lights
through the ice.
Information gained while the VideoRay was operated was passed
on to the Ashland County Sheriff for investigative purposes. St.
Louis County Undersheriff Dave Phillips, Deputy Sheriff Duane Nelson,
and Rescue Squad members Lt. Tom Crossmon and Lt. Dirk VerSteeg
operated the VideoRay. Phillips stated that the team effort of
the Ashland County Sheriff’s Office, Ashland Fire Department,
and Sawyer County Sheriff’s Office Dive Team made the search
with the ROV a very  professional and focused effort.
The VideoRay Pro II is equipped with a video eye that sends a
live feed to a screen seen by the operator who is on the dock or
a boat. The Sea Sprite sonar is used for locating targets as well
as for navigation. By using the image of the snowmobile as a point
of reference, the sonar could see for a range of 60 feet and gather
images from a 360-degree radius. Searchers correctly assumed the
victim would swim directly for shore from the snowmobile, and the
body was located 250 feet from where the snowmobile was found two
weeks earlier by the dive team.
The St. Louis County Sheriff's Office and Rescue Squad purchased
the VideoRay Pro II through a Homeland Security grant with the
State of Minnesota. According to Phillips, the Sheriff’s
Office plans to use the VideoRay to help in search and recovery
efforts of drowning victims, documenting underwater crime scenes,
and as part of a Homeland Security program for the State of Minnesota.
Phillips says the VideoRay was chosen for its affordability, portability,
easy operation, and ability to operate in cold, dark waters.
Phillips stated to the Duluth News Tribune, “What our goal
was when we acquired this [VideoRay] is to get the scuba divers
out of the search business and get them into the recovery business.
 This was a simple matter of cutting a hole in the ice and going
to where the victim was found by the ROV as opposed to spending
time searching” and endangering divers.
For more information, contact: David Phillips, Undersheriff, St.
Louis County Sheriff's Office, Duluth, MN, PH: 218-726-2339, e-mail:
phillipsd@co.st-louis.mn.us
Contact VideoRay LLC • 400 Eagleview Blvd. • Exton,
PA 19341 USA • Phone: (610) 458-3000 • FAX: (610) 458-3010 • www.videoray.com
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