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State police search Genesee River for two Batavia brothers missing for 10 days

By Billie Owens

State Troopers are scouring the Genesee River for two brothers from Batavia who have been missing since Feb. 19. David King, 54, and his 46-year-old brother, Michael, were last seen on I-390 in Monroe County.

Today, Trooper Mark O'Donnell told WBTA that so far the search has turned up nothing criminal.

Police say the brothers were reported missing Feb. 21. But it was not until a few days ago that law enforcement learned from another brother, Daniel, that they were last seen on I-390 near Rochester and the Genesee River. The media wasn't involved sooner because, for undisclosed reasons, Daniel was not able to provide police with that information.

According to police, David and Michael were in a minor car accident on Feb. 19 on I-390 and were taken to Strong Memorial Hospital for evaluation. Afterward, Daniel picked them up.

He dropped them off on the opposite side of the highway from their damaged vehicle at about 9 p.m. Daniel says they hopped over the median to get to the car. According to O'Donnell, there's about a 12- to 15-foot gap between the northbound and southbound lanes at that location and the Genesee River lies 100 feet below.

No one has had contact with David and Michael since then, but police are not ruling out that they could be found safe. Authorities have not been able to pick up any mobile phone signals from the brothers' phones.

A scuba team and airboat are being used today in the search and, over the weekend, a helicopter was used. But O'Donnell does not characterize the efforts as a "search for bodies."

Anyone with information should call State Police at 398-4100.

In addition to WBTA, information used in this post came from TV's WHAM 13.

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