Search continues for Hampden man’s body

BANGOR – As searchers expanded their efforts Tuesday to find a Hampden man who was swept away two days earlier in Kenduskeag Stream, hopes dimmed for his safe return.

Missing is Joseph Majeau, 77, a retired minister with the Unitarian Universalist Association, who went into the water on Sunday while walking with his wife along the stream. The search is expected to continue today.

Throughout the day, searchers used canoes and 16-foot poles to prod deep eddies of quieter water along the fast-moving Kenduskeag Stream, while boats continued to patrol the Penobscot River, as far down as Verona, looking for Majeau’s body.

A searcher perched with binoculars near the Sea Dog restaurant watched the surface of the Penobscot River for any sign of Majeau, a flash of the blue and tan clothing that he was wearing.

The cloudy weather and murky waters of the stream prevented searchers from using a plane to search the river from 500 feet above it. Water conditions also curbed divers’ efforts to search under the surface.

Two days into the search, authorities had little hope that Majeau was still alive, turning the search mission into a recovery effort, said Richard Bowie, director of the Down East Emergency Medicine Institute. DEEMI is the volunteer agency now spearheading the search effort that includes local and state agencies.

“After he is gone 24 to 36 hours, it becomes a recovery,” Bowie said Tuesday, as he stood on the banks of the Kenduskeag Stream where Majeau went into the water and where a family member and a bystander tried to rescue him.

It’s not clear what happened on Sunday, but witnesses reported that earlier Sunday, Majeau had to be pulled over a wooden railing he had climbed over and that later, it appeared he had headed toward the water as he walked beside the stream with his wife.

Majeau reportedly went into the water near where 14th Street Extension meets Valley Avenue along the stream.

Little remains to mark the initial frantic efforts by the rescuers who had converged Sunday at the stream’s edge to try to find the man.

Two small, bright orange flags are fastened to a branch of a fallen tree signifying where his wife and a bystander tried to pull Majeau from the water. About 150 feet downstream, in a small clump of thin trees at a curve in the stream, is another marker, this one designating the last place Majeau was seen.

Searchers say Majeau’s body could be anywhere, from a few feet from where he last was seen to down the Penobscot River or even farther.

To get an idea about how far a body could travel under existing conditions and to help identify where to search, a white detergent bottle, half filled with water, was released into the stream Monday. Intended to act the way a human body might, the plastic container made it to the Penobscot River, about a mile away, within half an hour, Bowie said.

Search conditions were improving Tuesday. The stream, murky and muddy from runoff water, had subsided a bit. Bright green grass beside a paler shade on the bank showed where water once covered the bank.

Bowie estimated that on Tuesday, the stream was 2 feet shallower, and in some places it was 5 to 10 feet narrower than on Sunday.

In light of the improved search conditions, searchers renewed the idea of using a plane today to take pictures of the stream. They will be put together to form a topographical map to identify search areas as well as danger spots.

A dive team, consisting of local and state law enforcement officials, including the Maine State Police and the Maine Marine Patrol, may try today to search the eddies of the Kenduskeag, although officials said Tuesday they will have to see what conditions a new day brings.

“It won’t be done until there’s no chance of getting someone hurt,” Sgt. John Williams of the Marine Patrol said Tuesday. Williams was on the scene Tuesday, although the marine patrol has not formally been called in.

Other volunteers offered their help. Kayaker Chad Bissonnette, 29, of Bangor was paddling on the Kenduskeag Stream and approached Bowie, agreeing to keep a look out for any signs of the missing man as he headed down the stream.

With DEEMI members involved in other searches in the state, including in Washington and Aroostook counties, Bowie said they have been frustrated by the lack of progress, but the searchers will continue, using the night to develop plans and for some much needed sleep.

“They’re up marshaling resources, and at first light they’re out doing it again,” Bowie said.