John Thomas Mestayer, 23, was a married graduate student in geology at Louisiana State University when he disappeared on April 9, 1985, in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. He was described as a white male, 6 feet 1 inch, about 165 pounds, with brown hair and green eyes. On the day he disappeared he was wearing a t-shirt, blue jeans and sneakers.

Mestayer had been at the Mississippi River with his dog, playing fetch with a rubber baton, when the dog was swept into the river’s strong current and pulled against a barge. Mestayer entered the water trying to rescue the dog and was pulled under the barge; he was never seen again and his body has not been recovered. The case is recorded as a suspected accident and a lost/injured missing person; he is presumed to have drowned.

Does anyone who was in the Baton Rouge riverfront area on April 9, 1985, or who has information about that day or the scene, have details that could help clarify what happened?