After truck found, search continues for missing Goodhue County man

HAGER CITY, Wis (KTTC) – Law enforcement and volunteers continued searching Monday for Brad Nagel, the Goodhue County man has been missing since November 15.

On Sunday, law enforcement discovered Nagel’s unoccupied black 2005 Chevy Colorado pickup truck submerged under water in the Mississippi River, near a boat launch in Hager City, Wisconsin, across from Mr. Sippi Marina and Campground at N1415 830th St.

On Monday, Goodhue County Sheriff Marty Kelly said he could not comment on whether or not the truck windows were up or down. He could confirm that the truck was unoccupied, and there were some personal articles found in the water near the truck. He did not comment on what the items were. He also said he has known of other vehicles to have accidentally gone into the river from that boat launch.

“Brad was a classmate of mine. So, it’s fairly personal to me,” Kelly said. “Our water patrol was very persistent in checking that area. His last phone ping was somewhere in that area. We did some sonar on the boats and located the truck after two days of searching. Unfortunately, it was unoccupied.”

Nagel is a field instructor at the Red Wing Environmental Learning Center.

“Brad has been with the environmental center for 35 years,” Kelly said. “He’s touched so many people’s lives. All those kids coming up, through the program, he was supposed to be at a camping event when he didn’t show up. So we’re just very, very concerned.”

Sheriff Kelly said they are doing everything they can to find Nagel.

“We are moving forward we had more than 300 people out searching Saturday. We covered 1,000 square miles,” he said. “We’re back out on the water today. We have drones in the air along on the river. And volunteers are out on the river in boats, too. Our investigators are following up on leads that we do have.”

Nagel is 57 years old, 5′7 with brown hair and brown eyes.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Goodhue County Sheriff’s Office at 651-385-3155.

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