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Second body recovered; both students die of drowning
By Lynn Hotaling
The body of a Western Carolina University student, missing since Sept. 9, was recovered Friday (Sept. 24) from the waters of Bear Creek Lake.
The search for 19-year-old Joel Esteppe, which was suspended prior to Hurricane Ivan’s Sept. 16 arrival, resumed Sept. 20, according to Jackson County Sheriff Jimmy Ashe. Esteppe’s body was found near Flat Creek Falls, about a half-mile from where Wolf Creek flows into Bear Creek Lake, Ashe said.
Esteppe and a companion, Misty France, also a 19-year-old WCU student, left campus around 7 p.m. Sept. 9, telling friends they planned to go to Paradise Falls, which is located in the Wolf Creek Lake spillway. France’s body was recovered two days later, on Sept. 11, in a log jam below Wolf Creek Dam, approximately a half-mile above Bear Creek Lake.
Her body was recovered by swiftwater rescue teams.
Rescuers continued to search the Wolf Creek/Bear Lake waters for Esteppe until halted by Hurricane Ivan’s approach.
Authorities first learned of the pair’s disappearnce on Sept. 10. Friends of the couple filed a missing persons report after the two failed to return to the WCU campus.
Esteppe’s car was found at the head of the trail leading down to the falls.
Esteppe was a 2003 graduate of Rosewood High School in Goldsboro. He was pursuing a major in engineering technology.
France was from Jacksonville and was a 2003 graduate of Dixon High School. She was an elementary education major and had planned to teach kindergarten.
Autopsy results from the state medical examiner’s office indicate that both students died from drowning, Ashe said Monday.
More than 125 people, representing 24 agencies, provided mutual aid for the initial phase of the search, including divers, underwater cameras, sonar, drag teams, swiftwater rescue teams, and search and rescue dogs. National Guard and N.C. Highway Patrol helicopters provided assistance from the air.
Only Jackson County Rescue Squad and Sheriff’s Department personnel were on the scene Friday when Esteppe’s body was recovered, Ashe said. A larger search that would have included numerous agencies from across the region was set to begin Saturday morning (Sept. 25), Ashe said.
“I’m glad we were able to locate Mr. Esteppe and Miss France to give closure to their families,” Ashe said.
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