Shobonier Man Found Dead After Crash Near Patoka

The Marion County Coroner's Office is investigating the death of a Shobonier man.

Coroner Troy Cannon says 25-year-old Travis E. Collier died early Sunday morning as a result of a single-vehicle crash on Boat Dock Road, just west of Patoka. However, the vehicle and his body were not discovered until around 6:30 Sunday afternoon.

State police report that Collier's pickup truck was eastbound when it crossed the westbound lane and went off the roadway. The truck struck a ditch embankment, causing it to go airborne. The vehicle then struck the face of a concrete culvert and overturned, landing on its top in the middle of a creekbed.

Cannon says Collier had been with friends on the east side of Carlyle Lake in the early morning hours, but when he and others left the area, Collier failed to return home. There were no other occupants or passengers in his vehicle. The vehicle was not visible from the roadway above.

After his friends and family members realized he had not returned home, they spent the day Sunday searching for him, to no avail. On Sunday afternoon, his family called the Marion County Sheriff's Office to report him missing. Shortly thereafter, a passing farmer on a tractor spotted the vehicle in the creek bed and notified the Sheriff's Office.

Cannon says that it is apparent that Collier died instantly from multiple blunt force trauma in the crash when his truck hit the retaining wall.

No autopsy is planned, but samples were obtained for toxicology testing and will be submitted to a certified laboratory for analysis.