I'm not sure which thread to post this to, but after debating I feel this is the right one.
I have paste and copied a portion of a search teams maunevers in searching for a body in cold water temperatures. This team is located in another state, but I immediately thought of Stacy while reading it. I asked for permission to post it here and received it.
For me, it helped on how a body "reacts" in a river, lake, etc. I think the area that Stacy is beleived to be in is also considered a "cold water" river.
From the article;
Uhlers search includes three main functions: attaching a boat to a high-line rope system and dropping a camera into the water around the falls and near the footbridge; sending two teams along the shoreline to search debris piles with probes; and searching the rivers eddies, the outer corners where water becomes slow-moving.
There is clearly a good reason to believe we could locate a person if they were a victim of the river, he said. The river is very predictable.
When a person falls into a cold-water current like the Otter Creek in February, the process is always the same, Uhler explained. A body will descend through three phases, known as the top, middle and bottom load. If the person is conscious, he will remain in the top load longer as he fights the current. If he is unconscious, or cannot beat the current, he will sink to the middle load and finally the bottom.
If theres a lot of debris in the river a persons clothes can become ensnared in the debris, Uhler said.
In warmer water, a body would become more buoyant, rise to the surface and begin moving on the current. But in the Otter Creeks cold water, its unlikely a body would travel far from where it entered the river, Uhler explained.
In a matter of one to two minutes he could have gone from top load to bottom load, especially with the current, he said. With the cold water conditions we have now, once a person becomes trapped in a certain area in the river, they would probably stay there for a while.