Man swimming with brother drowns in river near Bend

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Man swimming with brother drowns in river near Bend

09:15 AM PDT on Tuesday, August 7, 2007

By kgw.com Staff

BEND, Ore. -- A 26-year-old man swimming with his younger brother drowned Monday in the Deschutes River, the authorities said.

Todd Sampson, 26, of Sisters ventured behind Awbrey Falls into a lava tube and did not surface, according to the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office. Jeffrey Sampson, 18, tried to find his brother, but was thwarted by the current.

The sheriff's dive team recovered the body in about 20 feet of water.

A worker at nearby Deschutes River Ranch said it was the fourth drowning in his 25 years at the ranch in the popular area swimming area called White Rock, near White Rock Loop.

It's the second drowning on the Deschutes River in the Redmond area in less than a month. On July 7, Elesha Newton, 17, went over Cline Falls on a raft and drowned; her rafting companion was rescued after hours clinging to a rock in the swift current.