FRYEBURG – After a day and a half of divers braving murky water and strong currents, a search and rescue dog found the body of a Saco River drowning victim Thursday afternoon.

The body of Ronald Sheldon, 41, of Amesbury, Mass., was recovered in 10 to 15 feet of water about 175 yards downstream from Walker’s Falls Campground, where he drowned the day before while trying to save his fiancee’ from the strong current.

Maine Warden Service spokesman Mark Latti said the golden retriever named Gus was being led along the shore opposite the campground below Walker’s Falls around 3 p.m. by Maine Search and Rescue Dogs volunteer Nancy Troubh of Poland when he stopped, faced the river, and started barking.

Responding by scent, the dog then jumped into the river and started swimming in a circle over the spot where the body was submerged, Latti said.

The Fryeburg Search and Rescue airboat, which had been searching some distance upriver, arrived with Maine Warden Service diver Mike Joy, who recovered the body, Latti said.

Sheldon came to the campground Wednesday with his fiancee, Renee Beaulieu, also of Amesbury, her brother Dave Beaulieu, and Jeff Rattcliff of Newburyport, Mass. Sheldon was swimming with the Beaulieus when Renee got caught in an area of strong current across the river, Warden Brian Tripp said.

Sheldon and her brother swam to help her, but were also overwhelmed by the current, Tripp said. Rattcliff told the wardens he dove in and helped the Beaulieus to shore, and steered Sheldon toward a banking near shore.

“Apparently Ron wasn’t strong enough to stand and went right down” in about 14 feet of water, Tripp said. By this time Rattcliff was in trouble too, but managed to escape the current. Tripp said the recent rains had raised river levels between 4 and 5 feet.

“The current is extremely swift and the visibility is extremely poor,” Tripp said.

About a dozen trained search and rescue divers from the Maine Warden Service and divers from the Cumberland/Oxford Dive Team arrived at 8 a.m. Thursday to continue the search, which had been called off at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Along with the poor visibility, the divers’ efforts were hampered by sunken branches and rocks.

Before the arrival of the search and rescue dog, Warden Lt. Nat Berry was unsure how much longer to allow the divers to search because of the dangerous conditions and an overnight forecast of thunderstorms.

“We have to be really careful. We can’t unnecessarily risk a life because we’ve lost one here,” he said.

By early Thursday, a wide stretch above and below the falls had been searched repeatedly by the divers.

“It’s like diving in a cup of coffee,” said Warden Joel Wilkinson, a diver. “And there’s a lot of debris flying down from last night.”

Before the body was found, the Warden Service was making plans to have a plane fly over the river, since it’s easier to detect objects underwater from straight above, he said.

Warden Sgt. Don Gray said Wednesday’s drowning was the first to occur this summer on the Saco River.

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