The body of a Greenwood man who jumped to his death off a Yazoo River bridge has been recovered.
The body of Ronshay Nichols was found by recovery boats around 3:15 p.m. Sunday near the northern bank, about 300 yards from the spot where he jumped into the river on Friday night, according to Greenwood Police Chief Ray Moore.
Nichols, 36, was a resident of the Kinloch Gill Center, a facility operated by Life Help mental health center that provides supervised housing for the seriously mentally ill.
Kinloch Gill is located about 300 yards away from where Nichols jumped off the Hinman Bridge after being approached by a pair of Greenwood police officers.
Police said they were called to Kinloch Gill by a Life Help employee before 8 p.m. Friday in reference to an irate individual, later identified as Nichols. When officers arrived on the scene, they noticed Nichols walking toward the bridge. As they got near, Nichols ran to the center of the bridge, from which he subsequently jumped.
A second man, Kirk Joseph Caro of Biloxi, jumped over the rail of the bridge in an unsuccessful attempt to try to rescue Nichols. Caro suffered minor injuries, Moore said.
The effort to rescue Nichols soon became a recovery operation that included patrol-boating teams from Greenwood, Leflore and Sunflower counties and the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries & Parks, according to Leflore County Fire Coordinator Bobby Norwood.
Norwood said that on Saturday, after a second unsuccessful day of trying to find Nichols’ body, “we made a determination — based on his weight and the water temperature — that he should surface between noon and 3 p.m. Sunday.”
Fred Randle, director of the Greenwood-Leflore Emergency Management Agency, said the search resumed around 2:45 p.m. Sunday and the body was found about a half-hour later.
Although it is presumed that Nichols drowned, his body will be sent to Jackson for an autopsy, Moore said.
The incident was unfortunate, he said.
“It was definitely a tragic event. Our prayers go out to his family,.”
•Contact Bob Darden at 581-7239 or bdarden@gwcommonwealth.com.
