Former CIA director presumed drowned

April 29, 1996
Web posted at: 10:00 p.m. EDT

COBB ISLAND, Maryland (CNN) -- Search crews on Monday combed the muddy waters of the Wicomico River, and helicopters scoured the area in a search for former CIA director William Colby, presumed drowned in a weekend boating accident.

The search was called off for the night late Monday.

Colby, 76, the CIA's chief spy in Saigon during the Vietnam War and the agency's director in the mid-1970s, was reported missing by neighbors after his canoe was found filled with water about a quarter mile from his vacation home.

"There is no visibility in any of the waters, so it's all done by feel," said William Porter, a dive team member. "It's a matter of trying to develop the best last-seen point, so we can deploy the search system from there and continue our work."

Twelve divers were on the scene and more have been called in, said Assistant Fire Chief Bobby Higgs. Sunday night, Coast Guard crews searched the waters for more than five hours, Petty Officer Joe Dye said.

No foul play was suspected, but an investigation is ongoing, Charles County Sheriff Fred Davis said.

Went canoeing Saturday

Authorities believe Colby went canoeing Saturday evening on the Wicomico River, directly across from Cobb Island in southern Maryland.

Petty Officer Dye said it looked as though Colby had not planned on being gone long.

"There were still dinner items on the table," he said.

Neighbors became suspicious of Colby's whereabouts after noticing his car still in the driveway late Sunday. Typically, Colby would have returned to Washington by then, the neighbors told authorities. Then, the canoe was discovered to be missing.

"From that point on he was a missing person," the sheriff said. "We are currently canvassing everybody up along the shoreline and anybody who might have seen anything."

Colby and the CIA

Colby began his intelligence career parachuting into France to fight Nazis. He joined the CIA in 1950 and headed the spy agency's Saigon office during the Vietnam War. He was CIA director from 1973 to 1976 under Presidents Nixon and Ford.

He was dismissed by Ford because of a growing feeling in the White House that he was cooperating too freely with congressional investigators looking into allegations of CIA wrongdoing.

Since his retirement from the agency, Colby has served as a Washington lawyer and consultant.