Dayton man found in Great Miami River was listed as missing

MIAMISBURG — UPDATE @ 8:37 p.m.: Roderick Gardner, the 33-year-old Dayton man found in the Great Miami River late Monday afternoon, had been listed by police as a missing person.

Gardner’s name was released Tuesday by Chief Mark Hess, Five Rivers Metro Park Rangers.

Gardner was reported missing to the Dayton Police Department on March 29, Hess said.

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Investigators say there were no signs of trauma to the body.

The remains were taken to the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office after being taken from the water. The remains initially were identified as that of an African-American male, believed to be 20 to 30 years old, according to a MetroParks Ranger.

There was no identification with the remains and the person appears to have been in the water for some time, the official said.

Rangers, Miami Twp. police and fire/rescue crews with the Miami Valley Fire District were dispatched about 4:30 p.m. on the report of a possible body in the water. Crews were sent to the river, in the area of Shephard Road and Dayton Cincinnati Pike in Miamisburg, near the Great Miami River Recreational Trail.

The discovery was made by a jogger.

“I’m at the Miamisburg bike trail by the dam,” the male caller told a 9-1-1 operator/dispatcher with Montgomery County Regional Dispatch.

“There’s a body floating,” the caller said. “I just parked right next to the dam. I just started running. Then I saw it and stopped.”

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