Woman believed missing after swimming in Black River now in custody on outstanding warrant

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. (KFVS) - A woman is in custody on an outstanding warrant days after crews were searching for her in the Black River.

According to Lt. Josh Stewart with the Poplar Bluff Police Department, 49-year-old Debra Wright was take into custody in the 500 block of East Henry Street on Wednesday morning, September 6 on an outstanding warrant for a parole violation for drug charges.

Authorities spent more than a day searching for her in the Black River in Poplar Bluff, Missouri.

According to the Poplar Bluff Police Department, they received tips Tuesday afternoon indicating Wright may be alive.

Sometime during the evening hours on Tuesday, September 5, Wright sent, through a third party, a time-stamped photo showing she was alive and well. The date and time were handwritten on a piece of paper in the picture. Authorities said this was enough to call off the search for her.

The search for Wright began shortly after 3 p.m. on Monday, September 4.

Poplar Bluff police said Wright’s boyfriend reported her missing after she went into the river and didn’t reappear.

According to the highway patrol, Wright was last seen swimming near the Pine Street Bridge around 3:19 p.m.

Crews dragged the river on Monday, but didn’t find anything. Dive teams returned to the area around 10 a.m. on Tuesday to resume searching. They started their search at Sportsman Park and moved down river to Bartlett Street.

Crews with MSHP Troop E Marine Operations and Poplar Bluff Fire Department assisted with the search.

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