Coast Guard suspends search for missing Avon spearfisherman

The Coast Guard suspended its search on Monday for a 38-year-old Kristopher Mueller of Avon who went missing on Saturday near Bonner Bridge in Oregon Inlet.

However, Mueller’s wife and friends weren’t giving up.

Mueller was last known to be spearfishing in the vicinity of the bridge. Sector North Carolina watchstanders were notified at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19, after Mueller had not been seen for more than an hour. 

Mueller’s vehicle was found by the National Park Service. Personnel from Coast Guard Station Oregon Inlet discovered Mueller’s kayak with fish, a life jacket and a cell phone still aboard, as well as snorkeling gear on a piling nearby.

Crews who searched for Mueller were four C-130 Hercules airplane crews and three MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crews from Air Station Elizabeth City, four 47-foot Motor Life Boat crews, two 24-foot Special Purpose Craft crews, a 29-foot Response Boat-Small crew from Station Oregon Inlet, and the crews of Coast Guard Cutter Beluga and Cutter Cochito, both homeported in Virginia Beach, Va.

In a search hampered by windy conditions and rough water, Coast Guard crews covered more than 1,600 square miles in areas offshore east of Oregon Inlet and southwest into Pamlico Sound, just north of Cape Hatteras. The Coast Guard crews searched more than 60 combined hours.

Robin Mueller posted a message on her Facebook Page today, asking for volunteers to continue to search for her husband.

“Anyone and everyone who will help us continue to search for Kristopher today, please contact me so I know you’re out there — 410-215-3963. Anything can help. Walk a mile on the beach or even calling someone you know with a plane or boat and give them my number. Please for my little girl to have her daddy back.”