AUGUSTA — Public safety officials said efforts to find the body of an Augusta woman believed to have gone under the ice on the Kennebec River March 21 are underway but so far have not been successful.
On March 21 a woman believed to be Kelly Voytasko, 54, of Augusta, walked out onto the since-departed ice near Kennebec Plaza and jumped into an open section of the Kennebec River.
Voytasko was reported missing by her family at around the same time that day.
Augusta Deputy Police Chief Jared Mills said then that officials believed the woman was Voytasko.
Police continue to investigate Voytasko’s disappearance as a missing person, but investigators believe she is the woman who went under the ice that day. Police, Maine Marine Patrol and other public safety workers searched for her after the incident, but discontinued the search then because of dangerous conditions created by the swift-moving river and presence of ice.
The search, which authorities now describe as a recovery effort, resumed about two weeks ago after most of the ice left the river, according to Jeff Nichols, a spokesman for the Maine Department of Marine Resources.
The recovery effort so far has included searches from two small boats on the river as well as a Marine Patrol plane flying above the river.
“The search is being conducted in the river from the point where she went in all the way down to Merrymeeting Bay,” Nichols said. “We’re searching that entire stretch of river.”
Nichols said the Maine State Police Dive Team may also join the effort to find Voytasko, but hadn’t yet as of last week.
Voytasko’s husband, Anthony Voytasko, has said he believes it was his wife who went under the ice that day, but it is difficult not knowing, and there won’t be closure until she is found.
He said Kelly, who worked for the state Department of Health and Human Services, had been suffering from a deep depression.
Family members have described her as kind-hearted and giving and said she is very much missed.
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