Feb 18, 2026 By Jon Andreassi 2 min read

Fire departments are unlikely to continue searching the Monongahela River for a man who went missing last week.

Monongahela Fire Department Chief Aaron Leezer said they were suspending efforts to locate 26-year-old Shelby Rhodes.

Rhodes, of Monongahela, was reported missing Feb. 11. He was last seen in the early morning hours of Feb. 8. At about 5:20 a.m. that day, he had left a gathering at a home in the Black Diamond neighborhood in Monongahela.

Witnesses apparently saw him walking toward the woods and the Monongahela River. Over the weekend, volunteers from several fire departments searched the river extensively. According to a post on the Donora Fire Company’s Facebook page, between Saturday and Sunday crews searched for a total of 35 hours.

Search teams used sonar-equipped boats, dive teams and a cadaver dog. Efforts were hindered by the cold weather.

C.J. Pearce, Rhodes’ brother, said the search stretched from near Elizabeth to the Monongahela River Bridge.

According to Leezer, the search was unsuccessful, and crews will not return to the water. Leezer said the Monongahela Police Department will continue to investigate Rhodes’ disappearance.

The police department has not returned phone calls seeking information on the case.

Pearce said he was grateful for the efforts of volunteers to search for his brother, and was not worried about the search being suspended.

“My reaction is that I never thought he was in the water to begin with,” Pearce said.

While Rhodes had been at the Drunken Hippie bar in Monongahela prior to the Black Diamond house, Pearce says he believes his brother was not inebriated based on conversations with those who were with Rhodes that night.

“He was not drunk, he was not high, he was not depressed,” Pearce said. “Something happened that morning, and it was not him walking into a freezing cold river.”