Weekend death reminiscent of Duffey drowning — and exactly 11 years apart
By Brandi Makuski
“It’s been a bad weekend,” said Chief Bob Kussow on March 5.
Kussow, along with Lt. Joe Johnson of the Stevens Point Police Department, was sitting in Johnson’s office at about 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, trying to decompress from the two-day search for 20-year-old Cole B. Peterson — a search that ended with a body recovery.
Other than sharing the facts of the incident, both officers remarked on the character of Peterson’s father, Bruce, who drove in from Chaseburg, Wis., on Saturday, then again on Sunday morning, to help aid in the search for his son.
“It’s a two-and-a-half-hour drive,” Johnson said. “I was kind of surprised he didn’t stay overnight; we were just about to get him a hotel room here in town when he said no. He wanted to be with his family last night. But that makes sense.”
“This is the kind of person he is: He actually bought us five boxes of muffins from Perkins this morning for our briefing,” Kussow said. “I don’t know if I could’ve done that.”
Kussow and Johnson spelled out the details of the search on Saturday, which began after a 3:02 p.m. phone call from Peterson’s mother, who reported her son missing when he didn’t return home as expected for a family event. On Sunday, crews returned shortly after sunrise to the Franklin St. boat landing at Pfiffner Pioneer Park to resume the search of the area where Peterson’s cell phone was last used, and they were well aware that it would likely result not in a rescue, but a recovery.
Kussow also said some of the rescuers on the scene couldn’t help but notice the similarities to the 2012 drowning death of Eric Duffey, a 21-year-old natural resources student at UW-Stevens Point.
The similarities are ‘creepy’
Duffey was last seen at about 1:15 a.m. on Saturday, March 3, 2012 leaving a downtown bar alone — presumably, his friends later told police, heading back to his Isadore St. residence. Duffey’s body was found in the Wisconsin River on March 5.
Peterson was also a natural resources student at UWSP, and was also believed to have been drinking before leaving downtown Stevens Point alone.
“Eric Duffey was found 11 years ago today. He went missing on March 3; Cole went missing two hours into March 4. We found them both on March 5,” Johnson said. “It’s creepy.”
Johnson also said it’s the fastest recovery he can recall during his time at SPPD.
The logistics of the search
Kussow said several deputies from the Portage Co. Sheriff’s Office were also at the scene to assist, along with the sheriff’s command vehicle. A regional dive team from the Marathon Co. Sheriff’s Office was also called in, and ultimately, retrieved Peterson’s body from the water.
Johnson and Kussow, as well as Chief Jb Moody from the Stevens Point Fire Department, all pointed to the tight-knit, well-trained crews, and the use of newer technology that helped find Peterson as quickly as they did.
Moody was also on the 2012 scene when crews recovered Duffey’s body. He, too, recognized the similarities but said Duffey was found closer to the Clark St. bridge.
After the use of a police drone helped identify an anomaly under the ice, SPFD sent its rapid deployment craft, sometimes referred to as a “banana boat” because of its shape and color, along with a small crew wearing special ice rescue suits, to that area via an ice shelf along the eastern bank of the Wisconsin River. Crew members drilled what are called “inspection holes” to determine the thickness of the ice and how safe it would be for additional rescuers.
“We were able to drill three holes, and on the third, we determined it was just too thin to operate safely, and that’s when we decided to deploy the Ice Angel,” Moody said.
The SPFD Ice Angel, a large, red craft that looks and operates similarly to an airboat, was deployed from the Bukolt Park boat landing.
“The Franklin St. access was snowed over and it’s not as wide as the Bukolt boat landing, so we sent our utility truck up there and plowed out the boat landing and we were able to safely deploy,” Moody said.
Anyone observing the scene, even from a distance, would have heard the airboat; it’s loud, and can float on the water or function as a “hovercraft on top of the ice,” Moody said.
“It was operating exactly like it was designed to do, so we were able to stay on top of the ice until we got to the channel where we could open up the ice,” he said.
The boat banana remained nearby on thicker ice, with two crew members prepared for an emergency rescue should anyone from the Ice Angel slip and fall into the water, Moody added.
Moody also secured use of the Pfiffner Building, 401 Franklin St., from the city’s department of public works. Director Scott Beduhn came to the scene to provide Moody with a set of keys for the building, which would provide emergency responders with bathroom facilities, and to use as a possible food distribution point for crews who would be on the scene for much of the day.
Moody also called an out-of-service city bus to the scene in case crews needed a warm place to change out of wet gear or clothing.
The emotional toll
Law enforcement and fire/EMS crews see death more than most other professions. Moody said it’s vital for emergency departments to ensure their members are dealing with it — and in a healthy way.
All local law enforcement and fire/EMS departments, as well as county dispatchers, have access to a peer support program. Within it, department members use what they’ve learned during specialized critical incident stress management training to help themselves, and each other, work through the emotional fallout in the hours, days, and weeks after a fatal, or otherwise violent, call.
A countywide chaplain program is also available, which offers a network of on-call clergy members from various religions.
“Obviously, we’re a family and we’re close-knit. We’re able to communicate effectively with each other and we talk through things. With situations like this, we can contact the chaplains, we have peer support within the organization, and if need be, we can do a critical incident stress debriefing and get more people involved, if appropriate,” Moody said. “We make sure of their mental wellbeing so they can turn around and go home and reconnect with their families after a long day, and have that stability through their lives and career.”
The aftermath
Kussow said that several members of Peterson’s extended family arrived at the scene throughout Sunday morning, but Peterson’s father insisted on being the one to break the news. He “lost it” after identifying the body at the Bukolt Park boat landing at about 1 p.m., Kussow said, as emergency responders used their own bodies to create a shell of privacy for the grieving father for several moments.
“This has been the worst day of his life,” Kussow said. “But I just thought, ‘How would I want to be told, as a father, how would I want to be approached, if it were my son?’ We were just direct and respectful and sometimes that’s all you can do.”
An after-action debriefing was planned for sometime this week, Kussow said. It would reconvene all of the emergency responders, analyze the response, and to allow department members to grieve, or vent, if needed, in private and surrounded by a support system.
Al Thompson, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs at UWSP, released the following statement on March 6:
On behalf of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, we are sincerely saddened by the loss of one of our students. Cole Peterson of Chaseburg, Wis., was a junior studying natural resources.
It’s never easy to lose a member of the Pointer family, and Cole’s loss will be felt deeply by many. He was a beloved member of the UWSP landscaping and grounds crew – an outstanding, reliable and trusted worker and a student leader.
Few words can adequately convey our deepest sympathy to Cole’s parents, family and friends. Please be mindful of the privacy of family and friends during this difficult time.
As we offer our comfort and support to them, UW-Stevens Point also has resources available to students and our university community affected by this unexpected loss.
A funeral service has been scheduled for Peterson on Saturday, March 11, at the Westby Coon Prairie Lutheran Church, 500 S. Main St., Westby, Wis. A visitation will be held Friday at the church from 4 to 8 p.m. and at the church on Saturday from 10 a.m. until service time at 11.
