Gentleman was a football running back. His body was missing for a few days, despite multiple searches.
Searchers find body of Connellsville swimmer missing since Tuesday
by Jeff Himler, published Sunday, June 10, 2018
Searchers Sunday morning found the body of a Connellsville man who had been missing since Tuesday in South Huntingdon and was presumed drowned.
The body of Dylan Knopsnider, 21, was pulled from the waters of Jacobs Creek at about 9:30 a.m. Sunday, according to state police Tpr. Robert Broadwater of the Uniontown barracks. He said Knopsnider’s body surfaced in the middle of the creek about 50 yards from where he entered the water Tuesday evening in a popular but remote swimming hole about two miles downstream from the Chaintown Road bridge.
Dive teams, firefighters and cadaver dogs from multiple counties had been searching the area fruitlessly for signs of Knopsnider since Tuesday. Broadwater said officials believe heavy rainfall may have helped bring the body to the surface. Firefighters from Dawson and a Murrysville dive team were involved in the search Sunday, according to a Fayette County 911 supervisor.
Jacobs Creek is at the border of Westmoreland and Fayette counties, and the Fayette County Coroner’s office was available to identify and take charge of the body, Broadwater said.
An autopsy is planned.
It is believed Knopsnider lost his footing and hit his head on a rock as he jumped into water about 10 to 15 feet deep downstream of a waterfall, police said. The creek was swollen by a storm earlier Tuesday, creating a fast current.
Trooper Adam Janosko said one of Knopsnider’s friends told police he jumped in the water in an attempt to rescue Knopsnider but could not reach him.
A Connellsville Area High School graduate, Knopsnider was a running back and strong safety for the school’s football team from 2012 to 2014.