Butch McCartney

Police canines indicated the possibility of a human body being beneath the waters of the Chippewa River near Catherine Street, Eau Claire Deputy Police Chief Gary Foster said Wednesday.

The area being investigated is a few houses away from the residence of junior Michael Noll, 1020 First Ave., who disappeared a week ago.

Crews spent Wednesday dragging the river and deploying divers. Xcel Energy, who operates the Dells Hydro dam upstream from the site, have attempted to control the water level but rivers are hard to predict, Foster said.

Police said crews plan to search the same area of the river again today.

Foster requested Eau Claire residents help the search by reporting if they see anything unusual in or around the river.

The search has been long and exhausting for the friends and family of Noll, a Rochester, Minn. native.

“We’re all just getting tired and worn out,” said senior Kim Lucas, one of Noll’s friends. “But we all love Mike and we care about Mike and we will do whatever we can to find him.”

Lucas and about 20 other students have woke up early every morning this week to canoe the river, trudge through the woods and go door to door in search of their friend.

Noll last was seen intoxicated leaving the Nasty Habit Saloon, 341 Water St., between 11 and 11:30 p.m. last Wednesday, his 22nd birthday.

An elderly woman reported Monday night that a man had wandered into her house on the 1000 block of Oxford Avenue before midnight Wednesday. Before leaving the woman’s home the man dropped his hat, which later was identified as belonging to Noll.

Lucas was having dinner with other search party members at Noll’s house when she heard the news of his hat being found.

“After that we were all so hopeful, we just wanted to go out again right then and there,” Lucas said. “We’re hoping he found a cellar that he crawled in to sleep – maybe he fell down the stairs and he just can’t get up.”

Junior Nicholas Dittbrenner was with Noll the night he disappeared and has helped search for him this week.

“He would let someone know if he was just off by himself,” Dittbrenner said. “We just try to keep busy and keep doing more stuff and plugging away.”

Noll’s parents, Jeff and Carol Noll of Rochester, Minn., have been in Eau Claire this week helping with the search, Lucas said.

“His parents are immaculate,” Lucas said. “They are extremely concerned about our health, about our well-being as students, and they tell us they have their family to help them deal with this.”

Although Noll is one of four college-aged students missing in Minnesota and Wisconsin after leaving bars or parties recently, police do not suspect a link, Foster said.

Josh Guimond, a 20-year-old St. John’s (Minn.) University student, was last seen at about midnight Saturday as he left a party. Christopher Jenkins, a 21-year-old University of Minnesota student has not been seen since he left a bar Halloween night in Minneapolis. Erika Dalquist, 21, has been missing since Oct. 30 when she last was seen leaving a bar in downtown Brainerd, Minn.

“I feel like this is a time where everybody needs to reflect that maybe drinking could be a big problem,” Lucas said. “I know it was (Noll’s) birthday and he was out having a good time, but you have to understand that you always have to be with somebody else.”

– The Associated Press contributed to this report.