David Hidell, of Charlotte, N.C., and John Dark, of Fairfield, distribute reward posters in Newport Monday. Dark says he was Lon Dowdle when Dowdle disappeared. (Patrick Reddy photos) | ZOOM |

        The search for Lon Dowdle shifted Monday from his hotel room and vehicle to underneath the Taylor-Southgate Bridge, but no new clues emerged, Covington police said.

        There has yet to be any evidence confirming criminal activity in the 5-day-old disappearance of the Alabama businessman, or anything ruling it out, police said.

        Mr. Dowdle, 26, has not been seen since early Thursday morning at the Waffle House restaurant on Philadelphia Street, across the street from the Holiday Inn, where he checked in Wednesday.

        Late Monday afternoon, one of the friends and relatives of Mr. Dowdle who have traveled here from Alabama was looking for clues and saw what appeared to be clothes high up an embankment, where the bridge ends near the Newport Aquarium.

        Police recovered rags and paper from the scene. One of the rags appeared to have a small amount of blood on it, Lt. Col. Jim Liles said.

DESCRIPTION

Dowdle     Lon Dowdle is described as a white male, with brown hair and hazel eyes. He's 5-11, weighs 164 pounds, and was last seen wearing a maroon shirt, khaki pants and black wingtip shoes. Anyone with information is asked to call Covington Police at 859-292-2222 or Crime Stoppers at 513-352-3040 or 800-338-5947.

        “It looks like it could have been someone blowing their nose,” he said. “There's nothing to tie anything. The rags and paper look like they might have belonged to a vagrant.”

        Nonetheless, police put the findings in evidence bags.

        One lifelong friend of Mr. Dowdle, Richard Boyles of Birmingham, Ala., continued to search along the southern bank of the Ohio River as officers hunted under the bridge.

        “I don't think it's what we're looking for,” Mr. Boyles said.

        Mr. Dowdle, of Alexander City, Ala., is a sales representative for his family's global fixture company, Madix Inc. He was in Greater Cincinnati on business, as he has been every two or three weeks for the past three years, his family said.

Monday story: Friend of missing man 'suspect'

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