Van, car found at bottom of Black River in La Crosse

Search for Shalim Augustine leads to objects in River

LA CROSSE, Wis. (WKBT) — The search for a missing La Crosse man who drowned two weeks ago uncovered some large objects at the bottom of the Black River.

While crews were looking for 23-year-old Shalim Augustine, they found a van and car.

A volunteer organization that provides emergency assistance in recovery efforts found the items using advance sonar systems.

Tuesday night, crews were near the Clinton Street bridge in La Crosse trying to recover them from the water.

The car was originally thought to be a submerged boat, but once crews got a closer look they realized it was a car.  It was located in the river under the Julia Belle Swain Riverboat in Copeland Park.

This isn’t the first time the sonar system has found something valuable.

“We find a tremendous amount of stuff in these rivers. We found a Model T in front of Winona just doing some training. The river is an area where people tend to hide items. We find a lot of items down there,” said the founder of Bruce’s Legacy Keith Cormican.

Crews said the van pulled from the River was a 1970’s model and had license plate tags from 1981.