Police in Texas say they believe a retired Dallas firefighter who has been missing for over a year took his own life by jumping off a bridge.
Hunt County Sheriff Randy Meeks told KRLD he believes former firefighter Michael Chambers, who went missing on March 10 of last year, jumped off the two-mile bridge on Lake Tawakoni, which is about 45 miles east of Dallas.
Meeks says the investigation into Chambers' disappearance will go on but that authorities have given up on finding him alive.
Police found a few drops of blood in the former firefighter's rural Quinlan workshop, but nothing that led them to believe there was a struggle.
Sheriff Meeks says cell phone tracking showed the last ping from Chambers' phone came on the bridge and that the signal showed he was traveling at about the speed one would on a bicycle.
"I really feel like he jumped in there himself and committed suicide," Meeks told KRLD on Monday.
When authorities searched for a bicycle in Chambers' shop, it was missing.
"We re-checked the shop where the blood was found and there is a bicycle missing that was hanging on the racks above the shop," said Meeks, who added that Chambers had been suffering from severe depression but declined to provide further details.
Dive teams have searched the area twice with no results or leads. A third search may be undertaken, but conditions are dangerous because of low visibility and the tons of concrete and rebar underwater from when the bridge was rebuilt.
Chambers' family was reached for comment by KRLD and said they disagree with the sheriff's assessment that the firefighter took his own life.
