Underwater drones search deep in Barre Town quarries by Eric Blaisdell, Rutland Daily Herald

for? Underwater drones search deep in Barre Town quarries By ERIC BLAISDELL STAFF WRITER BARRE — Police have used an underwater drone to search the quarries in Barre Town for Ralph “Rizz” Jean-Marie. The Barre City Police Department released an update Friday about its investi- gation into the disappearance of Jean-Marie, a 38-year-old man who was reportedly last seen at The Hollow Inn in April 2020. The disappearance is con- sidered suspicious because he left behind much of his personal belongings and police have said those who know what happened to him aren’t coming forward. He also wasn’t reported missing until more than 60 hours after he was last seen. There have been multi- ple rumors and unfounded reports about Jean-Marie’s location, and about what might have happened to him. Investigators believe some of those stories are misdirection in an attempt to obstruct the investigation. In response to some of the rumors, police connected with a Minnesota company, Crossmon Consulting, which used remotely operated underwater vehicles to search the quarries in Barre Town for Jean-Marie’s body or any evidence connected to his disappearance. Police Chief Tim Bombar- dier said in an email Friday the crew making a documen- tary about Jean-Marie’s dis- appearance first located the company. Anthony Marques, who also goes by Anthony Bathalon, is a filmmaker on the crew and posted a video about the search on his You- Tube page. A link for that video was included in the police department’s news release on Friday. This is the second such video the crew has made for the police department. The first was released last month, where investiga- tors explained parts of the investigation. Supporters of Jean-Marie have said they believe more hasn’t been done to find him because of the color of his skin and his lower economic status. Police have denied race having any impact on the investigation. Bombardier said the vid- eos are being made at no cost to the city because they are a collaboration between his department and the doc- umentary crew “to involve the community in this case as well as to keep things in the forefront without com- promising the investigation.” The video released Friday (which can be found at bit. ly/3qJ5bX8) shows inves- tigators and experts at the quarries in Graniteville. Bom- bardier said in the video the quarries were searched from June 20-25. “(They) looked for likely spots where somebody could throw things of evidentiary value over the cliff,” the chief stated in the video. Bombardier said bodies being dumped into a quarry is a “common theme” whenever someone has gone missing in the area over the past decade. Bombardier said he didn’t think the underwater drones would be used again for the quarries unless police received credible information about an exact location to search. The chief said the expense of conducting such a search will keep his department from doing anymore random searches in the future. Bom- bardier said in an email that the company’s staff donated time to help with the search, but the department did have to pay for their expenses. He didn’t have an exact figure, but the chief said that cost the department more than $10,000 and that did not include the hours his inves- tigators spent assisting the search. Anyone with information about Jean-Marie’s disappear- ance, or his location, is asked to call Barre City police at 802- 476-6613. A $5,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the location of Jean-Marie and those respon- sible for his disappearance. Anonymous tips can also be made by texting the keyword VTIPS to 274637 (CRIMES) or at https://new.tipsubmit. com/en/create-report/anon- ymous/state.vt.us to submit an anonymous tip online. eric.blaisdell @timesargus.com PROVIDED PHOTO Ralph “Rizz” Jean-Marie, 38, went missing in April 2020. Police suspect foul play in his disappearance. MAN MISSING SINCE APRIL 2020