By Tim Gardner
The body of an Avery County man missing since last Saturday has been found.
On Tuesday at approximately 9:30 a.m. a call was received by the Avery County 911 Emergency Communications Center in reference to a vehicle in Elk River, off North Carolina Highway 194 near Sam Eller Road between the Heaton Community and the Town of Banner Elk.
Avery County Sheriff Mike Henley stated that deputies arrived on the scene along with fire, rescue, and ambulance personnel and observed a silver passenger car in the river that was partially submerged in water. They also discovered one white male occupant inside the vehicle and that he was unresponsive.
Sheriff Henley said the vehicle is believed to have been traveling from the Banner Elk area toward Heaton when it went off a steep embankment and into the river, approximately 40 to 50 yards from the highway.
The deputies obtained a North Carolina vehicle registration number from the vehicle plate and confirmed that it was a 2019 Silver Subaru Forester owned by a male individual who was reported missing to the Avery Sheriff’s Office on Saturday, December 23.
Sheriff Henley said that after the vehicle was removed from the river, the occupant was confirmed to be deceased and was positively identified as the individual reported as a missing person–Barry Robert Hertel, age 71, of 834 Barlow Road, which is located in Heaton, but has an Elk Park mailing address.
Hertel was last seen at Lowes Hardware store in Banner Elk before the missing person report was issued.
Sheriff Henley stated that a Silver Alert was issued for Hertel at the time he was reported as missing and he and his staff had been searching for him since that time and had also asked for help from anyone who knew him and/or his potential whereabouts.
A Silver Alert is a public notification system in the United States to broadcast information about missing persons–especially senior citizens–to aid in locating them.
The North Carolina Center for Missing Persons had also issued an alert for Hertel.
The Sheriff noted that Hertel may have been enroute to his home when the accident occurred.
Hertel had also reportedly lived in Charlotte and New Bern, North Carolina and in Lockport, New York.
Sheriff Henley added that the North Carolina State Highway Patrol will be conducting an investigation into the motor vehicle accident.
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