VCU Exchange Student Jonathan Dorey Still Missing

Richmond, Va. --

The FBI used sonar equipment this week to search the bottom of the James River for Jonathan S. Dorey, a Virginia Commonwealth University exchange student who disappeared more than four months ago, university officials said yesterday.

FBI officials conducted the search Wednesday near Rocketts Landing, in the same area where authorities discovered some of Dorey's belongings March 24 on the river's north bank, VCU spokesman Mike Porter said.

Porter said a different type of sonar equipment had been used to search the area previously.

"VCU police consulted with the FBI, which provided additional resources to do a more complete search of the river bottom in the same area that was searched in the past," Porter wrote in an e-mail yesterday.

VCU police continue to use all available resources in the hope of providing closure to the Dorey family," Porter wrote.
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FBI spokeswoman Dee Rybiski said the bureau has been assisting VCU police with the search for Dorey all along. She declined to say how else the FBI has helped, noting that VCU police are heading the search.

"Dorey, a 22-year-old exchange student from Guernsey, a small island in the English Channel, was last seen March 2 leaving his VCU dorm with his bicycle.

Authorities still say they have no evidence of foul play.

VCU police have said that a witness reported seeing a man matching Dorey's description swimming in the river on the afternoon that he disappeared. His bicycle still is missing.