Coast Guard, police search for missing man near Indian River Inlet


Authorities are searching the waterways for a missing Lewes man who went fishing Monday night and hasn’t been seen since.

State police spokesman Sgt. Walter Newton said 48-year-old Joel Thompson left about 11 p.m. to fish off the bulkheads at the base of the Indian River Inlet, DE 9 Indian River Inlet Bridge Indian River Inlet Bridge .

When he hadn’t returned home by this morning, family members called police.


Troopers found Thompson’s Toyota Tacoma pickup truck parked in the parking lot at the bridge.


The state Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control’s marine unit and the U.S. Coast Guard are searching the waters south of Dewey Beach, Newton said.