FAIRFIELD — The Maine Warden Service and Maine State Police searched the Kennebec River area in a boat and floatplane Monday for a 62-year-old Skowhegan woman presumed killed Saturday night when her vehicle plunged into Martin Stream alongside U.S. Route 201.

The family of Cora Marley praised law enforcement officials, who have been looking for Marley since Saturday night when her Pontiac Vibe launched off an embankment beside a small bridge and traveled more than 60 feet over the stream before it struck an abutment on the opposite embankment and went into the water.

“They’re very selfless,” said Marley’s brother Richard Gagnon, of Skowhegan, noting that many officers missed Mother’s Day and birthday celebrations to look for Marley’s body. “Those divers were relentless.”

The family was offered refreshments, kind words and grief counseling, he said.

Marley’s sister, Earlene Morin of Skowhegan, said she was concerned for the safety of divers who scoured the murky inlet Saturday night and most of Sunday. She, too, commended police.

“We haven’t felt alone,” she said. “They have been very professional with us.”

Fairfield police Sgt. Matthew Bard said Sunday night that the dive portion of the search had concluded.

Maine State Police Trooper Matthew Grant, dive team commander, said the family’s patience and understanding were appreciated.

“I’m fairly astounded that she hasn’t been located already,” Grant said early Monday afternoon.

By noon Monday, Grant and several wardens had used a boat equipped with sonar to search half the width of the river for 1,000 feet downstream from the point where Martin Stream enters the Kennebec River.

Grant said sonar provides an image of objects on the river’s bottom.

The maximum depth of the river in the search area is about 25 feet, Grant said.

The river bottom contains numerous logs, rocks and ledge outcrops, which makes the search challenging, Grant said.

While Grant and wardens were in the boat, Richard Gagnon walked the shoreline near Shawmut Hydro Dam, looking for signs of his sister.

He recalled playing hooky from school years ago and asking Cora and her identical twin, Dora, to cover for him.

When the assistant principal asked Dora where her brother was, Dora replied that he was home with the flu, he said.

Later, when the assistant principal asked Cora the same question, she replied that her brother had a broken leg.

“I was grounded forever,” he joked.

Grant said if other people walking or fishing along a riverbank see something that could be connected with the search, they should call 911.

Marley was wearing a red coat and jeans Saturday night, Grant said.

She was driving from Waterville to Skowhegan when the single-vehicle accident happened about 8:35 p.m. near the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences on the Good Will-Hinckley campus.

A couple from Canada traveling north behind Marley on U.S. Route 201 told police the Vibe was being driven erratically before the incident.

Sgt. Bard said they reported they did not see the vehicle’s brake lights lit when it veered off the road.

Marley’s brother Ken Gagnon, a former state senator from Waterville, said his sister took medication for diabetes.

The Vibe was pulled from the stream late Saturday, Bard said, adding that both the front windshield and the back window were missing.

Beth Staples — 861-9252

[email protected]