By JESSICA DAIGLE

Staff Reporter

AMA – An unidentified body was found in the Mississippi River near the intake of the Davis Diversion Project in Luling on Tuesday.

According to Pat Yoes, Public Information Officer for the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office, the body was spotted by a crew member on a passing vessel as it was floating about 100 yards east of the intake structure.

Yoes said the Sheriff office is waiting for dental records to see if the body might be that of Chester Cheramie, 40, a tugboat captain missing since January.

Cheramie was piloting a 65-foot tugboat when it sank in the early morning hours of Jan. 25 near Luling.

Two of his crew members were rescued, but after a more than six hour search for Cheramie, the Coast Guard called it off.