Recovery in Toledo River Shows the Questions Families Face When a Loved One Is Found

The body recovered by Toledo fire crews from the Maumee River on Thursday has been identified by relatives as David Edward Skiles, 49. How Skiles reached the river remains unknown, Toledo fire and police officials said, and investigators have not determined a cause of death.

His sister, Tabitha Ilsley, said Skiles walked near that stretch of the river often. She last saw him Saturday night, when he suggested a casino visit and she declined. He called their mother early Sunday morning from another person’s telephone — a nightly habit, Ilsley said — and that call was the last contact the family had with him.

The family’s grief is compounded by cost: his father, Charles Skiles, mourning a second son in three years, said they struggle to afford funeral expenses, and a GoFundMe has been set up to help. The relatives hope to leave flowers and a small memorial near the recovery site.

Public safety officials say river recoveries are handled the same way in Tulsa as in Toledo — the scene is documented, evidence is collected and medical examiners determine how a person died — but each of those steps takes time, and families are left waiting for the answers that close a case.

Source: Body of David Edward Skiles found in Maumee River in Toledo — Glass City Ledger (glasscityledger.com)