Body of Missing Missouri Woman Found

The body of the college student who had fallen overboard was found Tuesday morning.

After searching for three days, the body of 22-year-old Samantha Ratledge of Scott City, Missouri has been found.

According to Captain Tony Dunker with the Region 1 Law Enforcement Division of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife, Ratledge had gone missing Sunday, September 1 after falling from a pontoon boat in Kentucky Lake.  Witnesses say that Ratledge left her seat and crossed the safety rail of the boat while it was moving, and fell.

After an investigation, 49-year-old James Nance of Calloway County had been driving the boat, and was arrested for boating under the influence in the first degree and was lodged in the Calloway County Jail.

Emergency Management Agency director for Calloway County, Bill Call, says she had been found a half-mile from where they believe she had fallen overboard.  It is thought that the current carried her there after the body had surfaced.

Call says they had 15 trained search and rescue volunteers in six boats searching early Tuesday morning  An autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday at the Medical Examiner's office in Madisonville.