Autopsy to determine identity of body found in river

Family believes it's missing Jefferson City man

The search for a Jefferson City man who was last seen standing on the Missouri River Bridge in December may have come to an end.

Jefferson City police announced Tuesday that they were notified by the Missouri Highway Patrol Water Division that two fishermen had recovered a body in the river near Chamois.

Because JCPD has an active investigation into the whereabouts of Randy Chugg, 21, officers were contacted by the patrol.

Although indications are this could be Chugg, police said they are awaiting autopsy results to confirm the identity of the body.

However, Tuesday evening Randy's family, who had set up a support page on Facebook, posted it was his body that was found.

"We hoped he would still be alive, but knew this might be possible," said Chris Chugg, Randy's father.

Until Tuesday, Chugg's case was classified by Jefferson City police as a "missing person" case.

He was last seen on the afternoon of Dec. 12.

Police said he was involved in an argument with his girlfriend and left his residence in the 1100 block of West McCarty Street on foot. His girlfriend then drove across the bridge and saw Randy standing on the pedestrian walkway. She went to the Noren access to get on the walkway to try to speak to him, but could not locate him.

Personal items of Randy's were found on the pedestrian walkway.

Despite what happened that day, Randy's family continued to hold out hope he was still alive.

"We had done land searches and were in the process of getting a fund set up to offer a reward," Chris said. "I can't thank people enough. Over 3,000 people showed their support."

Authorities said they did not know how long it would be before the autopsy results would be complete.