Search team scours the Macal for the body of an Ontario resident

Justin Lamb

A young man from the village of Ontario in the Cayo District is missing, and is presumed drowned in the Macal River. Eighteen year old Justin Lamb was with two friends at the river Thursday afternoon when he went missing. They told his family that he went under and never resurfaced. The police, along with Lamb’s family and friends, continue to search in the area where he disappeared, but there has been no sign of his body in the cloudy waters. Mike Rudon was in Ontario this morning and has the story.

Mike Rudon, Reporting

It is here that eighteen year old Justin Lamb was last seen on Thursday. He was with two other young men cooling off because it was a hot day. The men told his family that Lamb was sitting on a log while they swam off a distance, and when they turned around he had disappeared.

Gilbert Middleton Jr., Uncle of Justin Lamb

“Yesterday I guess he went with his cousins to take a swim in the river. It was hot and they went there and we got a report at around three thirty that he slipped and he went under. Since then we haven’t heard anything. This morning I actually went by the area and the divers who were there said that they dived to where they assumed that he would be and they couldn’t locate him.”

Since then search teams have been looking for his body. It is difficult because the current is very strong and the water is dark and as deep as seventy-five feet in one area. Lamb’s family can’t understand why he would go swimming at this spot, since he couldn’t swim and was also afraid of the river.

Gilbert Middleton Jr.

Gilbert Middleton Jr.

“Very strange because here in Camalote it’s very hard to access the river so when he was living here he didn’t go much to the river and as a matter of fact when he was young he had a similar incident. He wasn’t allowed, growing up…his mom was very strict in keeping them here. He turned eighteen and he started making his own decisions. He knew his limitations so I really can’t say why he would be there.”

The family believes the worst, and at this point are praying only to find his body so that they can bury him properly.

Gilbert Middleton Jr.

“We are supporting each other. We were always close-knit and we are here to support my sister and the whole family is around. I took off the time from my work just to assist. I will probably leave from here and go back up there to see what’s happening. There are reports that the Coast Guard would have come to do something but we don’t know what else is happening. The family is keeping it together. Hopefully we can get the body today so we can have some sort of thing.”

The chances of finding Justin Lamb improve with time, since after three days bodies generally surface because of decomposition. Mike Rudon for News Five.

Justin Lamb had moved out of his family home in Camalote and was living with family in Ontario. His family was trying to get him to move back home.