On the night of June 8, 1940, 42-year-old Joe S. (Joe Simon) Miller disappeared while working at the Cedar River Power Plant in Cedar Rapids, Nebraska. Employed by the Central Power Company, he and two coworkers climbed a suspension bridge about 11:00 p.m. to open floodgates after heavy rain. The side of the swinging bridge they were on gave way; his colleagues held on but Miller lost his balance and fell into the fast, turbulent river below.

Witnesses believed he may have struck his head during the fall, and he was wearing a heavy raincoat and high rubber boots that would have made staying afloat difficult. Searches were conducted by the Nance County Sheriff’s Department and there were subsequent reports of a body seen in the river between Cedar Rapids and Belgrade, but his remains were never recovered.

Joe Simon Miller was born March 19, 1898. He was described as a white male with brown hair and blue eyes, about 5 feet 0 inches to 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighing 165 to 185 pounds, and noted by family to have lost all his teeth due to gum disease. Does anyone have family memories or local information about the night of June 8, 1940, or about searches along that stretch of the river?