Search for missing Iowa snowmobiler called off

The search for a missing snowmobile rider is over. A dive team called off the search Monday night.

That's after sheriff's deputies, A K9 unit and the dive team spent the day searching the Maquoketa River for 23-year-old Shawn Berthel.

But those efforts turned up nothing.

Investigators say Berthel and his friend, Brett Stalker, were riding snowmobiles Saturday night near the Maquoketa River. The ice cracked, and both men fell under water.

“Two subjects had broken through the ice and one subject was out, one was still missing, ” Jackson County Emergency Management Coordinator Lin Medinger said.

Stalker was able to pull himself from the freezing water and call for help.

Search dogs scoured the river and lead investigators to this spot. That's where they found the empty snowmobiles, but no sign of Berthel.

The Lambourne Diving Team from Mechanicsville volunteered to search the river. It's only about three to six feet deep in that spot, but the river  worked against them.

And they fought more than just the cold temperature.

“The current is tremendous right now," Medinger said. "Our divers are having trouble staying going parallel because the current is so strong.”