COVINGTON — The 26-year-old Alabama businessman found dead April 10 on the banks of the Ohio River was drunk and had used cocaine before his death, according to a coroner's report released Wednesday.

        Lon Dowdle of Alexander City, Ala., had a blood alcohol level of 0.087. In Kentucky, someone is considered legally intoxicated with a blood alcohol level of 0.08 or greater. He had a cocaine metabolite level of 0.06 in his blood.

Dowdle

        “This would suggest he did have some ingestion of this recreational drug approximately eight hours or so before his death,” Kenton County Coroner David Suetholz said. “It is not considered a very high concentration.”

        Dr. Suetholz said the results don't change his previous conclusion that Mr. Dowdle's death was the result of an accidental drowning.

        Covington Police spokesman Lt. Col. Jim Liles said the investigation will remain closed unless some unexpected information surfaces about Mr. Dowdle's death.

        Police had ruled the drowning accidental. Police have said there was no indication of trauma to the body, and no signs Mr. Dowdle was a victim of a robbery. Mr. Dowdle's Rolex watch was recovered from his body.

        Mr. Dowdle's disappearance in early April from the Covington Waffle House prompted prayer vigils from Alabama to Cincinnati and the formation of a large search party made up of relatives and volunteers.

        Mr. Dowdle was in town on a business trip, and was last seen at 2:20 a.m. April 4 outside the Waffle House at 311 Philadelphia St. He had been bar hopping with a childhood friend, John Dark of Fairfield. Mr. Dark, who didn't return a phone message Wednesday, said in an April 17 interview with the Enquirer that neither he nor Mr. Dowdle used drugs the night of the disappearance.

        Mr. Dowdle, who was married, was a sales representative for Madix Inc., an international fixtures company headquartered in Goodwater, Ala., and owned by his father, Walter Dowdle.

       Staff reporter Jennifer Edwards contributed to this story.

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