NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Police searching for a missing Houston oil executive were focusing on the Mississippi River after tracing the man to a riverfront location after he left a Bourbon Street bar.
Searching through videos from businesses in the French Quarter, police were able to place 54-year-old Douglas Schantz at the dock for the Riverboat Natchez at about 2:40 a.m. on Friday.
Police Superintendent Warren Riley said Tuesday that Schantz, who left the Razzoo Bar and Patio about 2 a.m. Friday, was seen walking on a 2-foot walkway by the river.
"We're not certain, but it appears Mr. Schantz may have fallen into the river," Police Superintendent Warren Riley said.
Riley says the man, who had been drinking, seemed disoriented on the videos. He is seen going into a restricted area and is not seen again on the video, despite a review of the following four hours of tape, Riley said.
It does not seem that Schantz was the victim of foul play, which had earlier been suspected, Riley said.
"At no point in that 36 minutes was he ever approached or accompanied by any individual," Riley said.
Schantz, president of Houston-based Sequent Energy Management, was in New Orleans to give Tulane University a $25,000 gift during a reception Thursday. After the dinner, he and colleagues went to Bourbon Street at about midnight, said Mark Homestead, a senior vice president who was with Schantz.
Police mounted a massive effort to find Schantz, with 30 detectives scouring the French Quarter for videos showing his path after leaving his co-workers. The FBI, U.S. Marshal Service and Customs were also involved in the search.
On Monday a Coast Guard helicopter searched for 20 miles down-river but found no sign of Schantz.
Texas Equusearch arrived in New Orleans late Monday to do a sonar search of the river. They began looking next to the Natchez Tuesday morning, but bad weather forced them to call off the search briefly. The main problem was the riverboat itself, Tim Miller, president and founder of Equusearch said.
"We started where we think he went in and thought we'd have him in 30 minutes," Miller said. "But this paddlewheel causes a lot of underwater turbulence and the boat has been in and out seven times since Friday morning."
The current along the French Quarter shore was running at almost 4 miles an hour, Miller said. But there was heavy debris under the water there, he said. And with the water temperature at just 34 degrees, the body would not pop to the surface quickly, he said.
"I almost hope it is caught in debris," Miller said. "If it gets out in that current it will travel. There was another one went in at almost the same spot and they didn't recover it for 12 days and it was 54 miles downstream."
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
