Stillwater Family Searches for Dog Lost in Culvert near Brown's Creek

As he has done for years, Mark Kasper took his dog for a walk along Brown’s Creek this week, but when his Rat Terrier Marty took a dip in the creek to cool down, she never came back. 

Marty went for a swim in the creek about 200 yards west of Neal Avenue, just south of the walking trail, when the current swept the 26-pound terrier into the culvert. 

“She doesn’t usually swim in that spot,” Kasper said. “When I called for her, I got nothing. She didn’t come running.” 

Kasper went down to the creek to investigate, when he saw water rushing into an open culvert. 

“There was about six inches of air,” Kasper said. “Otherwise the water was rushing.” 

It appeared as though the water in the culvert was flowing northeast, Kasper said. So he ran through the woods—to a spot he thought the culvert may empty—but the water was just trickling out.

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He then called police to help him search for his dog, and to inform him where the culvert empties. 

Police learned the culvert acts as a diversion, and cuts across the golf course, before it empties into Kasper’s neighbor’s backyard. 

“We’ve searched a lot of the area. We’ve walked Brown’s Creek, checked around Lake McKusick and have been handing out fliers to trail users and in the neighborhoods,” Kasper said. “I’ve never been through this before. I never worried about my dog’s safety. I just want her back.” 

If the culvert had a grate on it, this would have never happened, Kasper said. 

“This culvert is big enough for a person to get swept into,” he said. “There should be a grate, or some kind of cover, on it.” 

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