Tuesday, July 21, was exactly four months from the March 21 date of his sister's tragic death here, but John Cowens of Grants Pass, Oregon, was even more dismayed than ever. Some account sent to him indicated that the white cross and flowers placed at the Wabash River edge, near the juncture of Stogdill Road and the River Road, were gone. The cross was still there, this reporter was able to verify to Cowens when receiving the message of concern Wednesday morning. Whether there were remaining flowers could not be detected because the flooding from the huge rain onslaught left the marker out into the swollen river, with marker's top, but not its base, above the water line. Melinda Gerber's death was an apparent drowning and ruled as such, although there was no autopsy.
Police call it an open case and have conducted it as a homicide investigation.
Police Master Trooper Robert Plummer have declined to make an accidental death finding and have cited material in the case jibing with other theories on the cause. Working in support of the probe led by Conservation Officer Kevin Pensinger, they have said flatly that a number of things learned and tested in a reenactment and episode reconstruction are contrary to the accounts given after the tragedy. Scott Gerber escaped and was helped as he emerged from the water before the vehicle sunk. Melinda Gerber, as reported, also was out of the van, but was said to have gone straight down and disappeared. Not long afterwards, searchers found her body in the river a ways downstream.