CASPER — After a 10-hour search for what officials feared was the body of a 37-year-old Casper man who reportedly fell into the North Platte River had a happier ending Tuesday when the man was found safe and unharmed.
A search for Dexter Fightingbear started at about 2 a.m. and the Casper Police Department was still searching for him later that morning, said CPD spokesperson Rebekah Ladd.
Fightingbear’s brother had contacted authorities to report him missing. They had been drinking and smoking marijuana along the river in the 300 block of West F Street on the north side of Casper, Ladd said.
At 12:15 p.m., Ladd reported that Fightingbear had been “located safe and unharmed.”
Ladd declined to answer where Fightingbear was when he was found or if there is any ongoing criminal investigation related to the report of a missing man and the search.
“We anticipate follow-up information in the coming days,” she said.
Members of the Natrona County Emergency Management Search and Rescue Team work a dog along the North Platte River Tuesday morning. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
The scene from under the West F Street bridge as it crosses over the North Platte River in Casper. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily)
Fell Into The River
The initial search for Fightingbear began early Tuesday after his brother alerted authorities that they both fell in the North Platte River about 2 a.m. and his brother did not get out.
Casper police officers responded quickly to the scene and met the brother, but could not locate Fightingbear.
“Search efforts by foot, drone, and boat were immediately initiated by multiple agencies,” Ladd reported earlier Tuesday. “Due to limited visibility, operations were suspended until sunrise and have since resumed.
"With the assistance of Natrona County Emergency Management, a coordinated search and rescue operation is ongoing, involving multiple agencies and specialized equipment.”
As of 11 a.m., a pair of search and rescue workers with a dog along with the Natrona County Sheriff’s Office deputy were working the west side of the North Platte north of West F Street alongside the Riverside Hotel parking lot.
The deputy said they were going over an area with the dog that had already been searched by the Casper Police Department.
Downstream for a dozen blocks, there was no visible presence of the search and rescue effort to Riverside Park as noon approached.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
