The body found in a truck in the Missouri River in Atchison Sunday was that of Garry Sandy, the 69-year-old man reported missing in late December. Atchison Police Chief Mike Wilson says with some expert help, they were able to get the truck out of the river without it coming apart.

“Tying onto it, and pulling it out can be a real challenge,” Wilson said, “simply because it fills full of sand, and when you try to hook onto it just pulls it piece by piece.”

“Fortunately we got the assistance of the Lee’s Summit underwater recovery team, who were able to get out to it. That was a challenge because of the cold weather, the wind, brutal conditions out there. But they were able to get to it.”

Wilson said they also had some help from a towing company in Missouri.

“The second resource we had was Express Towing out of Platte City. They’ve got very large equipment. Once the divers hooked onto the vehicle, they used their equipment to pull it from the river.”

Wilson says they continue their investigation of the truck. A pathologist in the Kansas City area is investigating the cause and manner of death.