VICTORIA -- Searchers have discovered the body of a third man who died after the truck he was riding in with two friends ended up in a river west of Victoria over the weekend.
Cory Mills, Eric Blackmore and AJ Jensen, all 20 years old, were last seen leaving Jensen's parents' house around 10:30 p.m. Friday.
Their blue Dodge Dakota truck was found in the fast-moving Sooke River on Sunday evening.
The body of one man was recovered nearby. The body of another man was found downriver approximately an hour and a half later.
Friends of the pair identified them to CTV News as Mills and Blackmore.
On Monday, police brought in an underwater recovery team but the divers turned up nothing. Meanwhile, searchers took to the river in kayaks and others combed the shores of the river looking for any sign of Jensen.
On Tuesday afternoon, searchers made the final grim discovery that the tightknit Sooke community had feared.
"Following several days of searching, this afternoon the body of an adult male has been recovered near Sooke River Road, which investigators believe to the body of a male reported missing late last week," said BC Coroners Service spokesperson Andy Watson in a statement Tuesday.
Foul play is not suspected in any of the deaths.
Search crews had been doubling back to comb the shores of the Sooke River on Tuesday, taking advantage of low tides after a weekend deluge of rains swelled the river over its banks. The hope was that the low water level might reveal something searchers had previously missed.
An RCMP helicopter was scheduled to assist in the search Tuesday but inclement weather prevented its arrival.
Some search-and-rescue volunteers had been diverted up-island Tuesday to search for a Courtenay man and a Duncan man who had gone missing Friday in separate incidents.
A police canine unit from Saanich was also aiding in the rescue efforts Tuesday near Fred Milne Park.
"Our thoughts are with the families of all three of the victims and all those who have been and are impacted by this terribly tragic event," said Sooke RCMP Staff-Sgt. Brett Sinden in a statement.
An online fundraiser for the families of the three men was started Monday morning and had raised more than $15,000 by early Tuesday evening.
