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Ogdensburg Police seek information on source of reported screams on Wednesday night near OBPA, psych center

Posted 4/29/16

OGDENSBURG -- Ogdensburg Police say they seek information on what lead to reports of a person screaming near the Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority and St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center on Wednesday …

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Ogdensburg Police seek information on source of reported screams on Wednesday night near OBPA, psych center

Posted

OGDENSBURG -- Ogdensburg Police say they seek information on what lead to reports of a person screaming near the Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority and St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center on Wednesday evening.

That evening, Ogdensburg Police Department say they responded to a report of a possible female in distress at the Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority property, on the western side of the International Bridge, off the Bridge and Port Authority walk trail.

The 8:46 p.m. report, was that a pedestrian on walk trail claimed to have heard what they described as a female screaming for help in succession, police said.

“In the witness’s opinion, [it] came from the wooded area, located off the northern side of the walk trail, close to the Bridge and Port Authority Administration Building,” according to a news release from Ogdensburg Police.

This section of wooded area consisted of a significant, wooded incline, which slopes down to the St. Lawrence River shoreline, police said.

There was an immediate response and search effort by the Ogdensburg Police Department and K9 Unit, St. Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office, United States Border Patrol and the Department of Homeland Security.

The K9 tracked to human scent leading from the walk trail, north, to the edge of the wooded incline, above the St. Lawrence River shoreline, police said.

Without finding anyone, police started what they describe as “a coordinated search response.”

The U.S. Border Patrol and Ogdensburg Fire Department dispatched vessels to the scene and searched the St. Lawrence River waterway and shoreline.

About 30 minutes after the initial call and search, Ogdensburg Police received a second call reporting screaming from a few hundred yards east of the original report, near the waterfront, along the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center grounds.

“The wooded areas and shorelines in and around the area of both reports were combed by officers and firefighters, who were equipped with thermal imaging cameras, with no findings,” Ogdensburg Police said.

Police became concerned that there could have been vessel in distress.

After this report, added to the search were a Border Patrol Marine Unit, a U.S. Coast Guard Vessel from Alexandria Bay and an air unit from the Canadian Coast Guard.

Equipped with radar and thermal imaging capabilities, the air and marine units swept the St. Lawrence River shorelines and waterway, on both sides of the river, from the area of the initial report, to approximately 10 miles east of the International Bridge.

“Though a significant response and tremendous use of resources … responders were unable to locate any individuals or vessels in the areas of the reports, nor the extended regions surrounding those areas,” Ogdensburg Police said.

The search effort was suspended around 4 a.m. Thursday.

Police say they did a second ground search of both areas in daylight on Thursday and found nothing.

Ogdensburg police ask anyone with information on the reports to call them at 393-1551.