On Wednesday, October 23, the Clinton County Sheriff’s Department received a call about a missing person in the Wells Bottom area that resulted in a search and the discovery of the tragic death of Quinton Collins, 28, of Albany.

Collins was pronounced dead at the scene by Deputy Coroner Lonnie Scott.

Sheriff Rick Riddle said Collins had been missing for three days according to a family member.

“When we got down there the family had been looking for him and they found his fishing poles and they looked like they had been broken,” Riddle said. “There were pieces of them laying on the ground and it looked like someone had slipped and fell on the rocks. We started a search right at dark and we found him in the water.”

Riddle said Collins’ body was found about 30 feet from the bank of the Cumberland River and in around four feet of water at around 7:05 p.m. Wednesday night.

“We waited on a couple of guys from Cumberland County to bring a boat because we didn’t know for sure how deep it was at the time,” Riddle said. “They ended up putting waders on and waded out and got him. The water was about four and a half feet deep.”

Scott said members of the Cumberland County Rescue Squad brought a small boat with them, but ended up not using the vessel to retrieve Collins. Scott said the Corp of Engineers was scheduled to begin generating electricity at 11 p.m. from Wolf Creek Dam just upstream of the scene where Collins was discovered, which would have resulted in the current of the river being considerably stronger.

“That kind of had us worried and put us in panic mode,” Scott said. “When we first went down there it was a missing person. The family said he had gone fishing Monday and hadn’t been seen since.”

Riddle said the investigation is ongoing, but foul play is not suspected.

“The only thing I saw was where it looked like someone slipped on the rocks, so I don’t know if that is the cause or not,” Riddle said.

Assisting in the search was the Kentucky State Police, Clinton County Sheriff’s Department, Cumberland County Emergency Management Services and Rescue Squad, the Clinton County Emergency Management Services and the Albany Fire Department.

According to Scott, Collins body was sent to the state medical examiner’s office for an autopsy, but as of Monday morning, October 28, results to determine cause of death were still pending.

A complete death notice for Quinton Collins appears this week on page 9.