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Missing Sumner man found dead in Kentucky floodwaters




Durrone Moore

Durrone Moore

The body of a missing Gallatin man was recovered in a flooded field in a rural part of Kentucky two weeks ago, according to officials with the Simpson County Sheriff’s Office.

A team of divers found 37-year-old Durrone Vernon Moore in flood waters along Cal Harris Road near the Tennessee state line just after 7 p.m. Thursday, March 7, according to police. His car had been found almost completely submerged two days earlier.

“That road goes down to a low-lying area,” Simpson County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Steve Chappell said. “Due to the fact that we’ve had so much rain in the last couple weeks, it was holding water on both sides and water covered the roadway.”

“Of course, there are signs out there that (warned about) high water. You could get by it in a truck, but not a car,” he added.

Moore was last heard from on Monday, March 4 when he called his girlfriend at approximately 9:23 p.m. and frantically told her that he was trapped in a river somewhere and could not get out, according to Gallatin police.

Chappell said Moore was “basically out in the middle of nowhere” on his way home when his vehicle went off the road into the floodwaters.

“There isn’t a house probably within a mile,” Chappell added. “All you could see was about an inch of the vehicle sticking up out of the water. Just the roof.”

When the vehicle was pulled from the water on March 5, police say Moore was not inside.

Simpson County Emergency Management, Franklin-Simpson Fire Rescue, Simpson County Coroner, Hart County Rescue Squad and Campbell City Fire Special Ops were called in to help search for Moore. His body was found two days later approximately 40 yards from where his car was initially spotted.

“When we got out there, there was ice on the water,” Chappell said, adding that temperatures the night Moore went missing were down in the teens. “Somebody in water that cold is not going to last long.”

Investigators are not sure if Moore hydroplaned into the field or if he went off the road while trying to turn around, according to Chappell. No foul play is suspected.

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