Missing snowmobiler's helmet found; family believes Davis drowned in reservoir

A fisherman on Coralville Lake may have found the first evidence of what happened to a missing snowmobile rider.

Marty Davis, 52, of rural Cedar Rapids disappeared while riding a snowmobile near the Linn/Johnson County border.  Two was almost two and a half months ago.  But a snowmobile helmet found Monday afternoon floating in the reservoir may provide the best clue yet as to Davis' fate.

Derek Pazour told TV9 he was out on the reservoir in a boat Monday afternoon when he thought he saw a floating soccer ball.  Pazour said he got closer and saw it was a snowmobile helmet floating amid the ice.

Pazour said he "figured it had to have been his (Davis') and I grabbed it and called deputies to meet me."

Investigators with the Johnson County Sheriff's Department turned the helmet over to the Linn County Sheriff's Office.  Family members gave authorities confirmation that the helmet belonged to Marty Davis.

The search for Davis began January 3rd when the missing man told a girlfriend he was going out for a ride.  Davis left the lights and TV on at home and never returned.

Dozens of searchers spent several days either riding the numerous snowmobile trails or walking woods, fields and ditches.  No one then found a trace of the missing man.

Family members suspected that Davis was riding alone to Bobbers Grill at the private Scales Pointe Recreation area and crossed the ice on the lake.  Captain Joe Lalla, with the Johnson County Sheriff's Department, said the water is too cold to allow a body to float to the surface now.  That will change as the water warms up.

So investigators will keep checking the shoreline for any more clues.

Captain Lalla also said it's really pointless to try to drag the lake for a body now without having a more precise location.

"The reservoir is hundreds of feet wide and miles long and it's a lot of effort and we don't have a location," Captain Lalla said.

News of the discovery, halfway between Bobbers Grill on the lake and the state Sandy Beach area, seemed to confirm what some involved in the January search suspected.  That was Davis was riding over the ice and somehow broke through and went under.

Bobbers Grill owner John Kay said "when we had our snowmobile runs, all of this area through here, it's my opinion he would have been found because everybody covered the ground around here.  But from what we heard, it was between there (Sandy Beach) and us--it's unfortunate."

Corey Davis, the missing man's son, said the family didn't want to comment at length yet.  But he did say the discovery of the helmet has pretty much all but confirmed what the family feared.

-- Dave Franzman, KCRG-TV9