Canton Native Dies After Second Trip Over Niagara Falls

CANTON, MI. — Canton native Kirk Jones, famous for surviving an unprotected fall in Niagara Falls in 2003, has died. Police believe he made a second attempt at the falls on April 19 — the anniversary of his first plunge. His body was recovered on June 2 in Youngstown, New York by the U.S. Coast Guard, the AP reported.

Jones’ death is still under investigation by the New York State Park Police. The Niagara, New York Gazette reported that investigators are still trying to piece together exactly what happened to Jones on April 19. Police recovered an 8-foot plastic ball that they believe Jones was going to go over Niagara Falls in, but apparently didn’t.

Police also found the cage of a 7-foot long boa constrictor, named Misty, empty in his truck. They think he may have planned to have the boa with him in the plastic ball, but Misty has not been located.

“I still have lots of questions,” Park Police Detective Sergeant Brian Nisbet told the Niagara Gazette.

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Jones’ first trip over the falls may have been a suicide attempt, according to a Detroit Free Press report. At the time, he was unemployed, unmarried and very lonely. When he fell in the Niagara River, the Free Press reported that Kirk Jones considered swimming to safety but didn’t.

He gained a measure of celebrity after surviving the 167-foot fall. Jones signed a $100,000 contract to join a circus. "I think I left a lot of my problems on the bottom of the gorge that day," Jones told the Free Press in 2003.

But Jones had fallen out of the spotlight. His second trip over the falls appears to have been aimed at restoring his celebrity. The Niagara Gazette reported that Jones told his wife he was going to do a stunt at the falls. She never heard from again after the phone call.

In the few days after Jones’ plunge, investigators found a website that featured a photo of the falls and Misty with a headline that read, “Believe in the Impossible Kirk Jones + Misty Conquer Niagara Falls NY 2017,” the Niagara Gazette reported.

The website, www.kirkjonesniagarafallsdaredevil.com, has since been taken down. New York State Park Police were contacted by an unidentified Michigan man who claimed that he was with Jones before the April stunt was planning to help him. But the Niagara Gazette reported that the man left before Jones went over because he believe it was too risky.

A tourist at Niagara Falls spotted the plastic ball in the rapids leading up to the falls. A Park Police officer responded to the call and captured the ball on video. “You can see (the plastic ball) spinning in the rapids,” Nisbet told the Gazette. “We can also clearly see it’s unoccupied.”

Police are unsure if Jones was in the ball at some point and fallen out. The Gazette also reported that a drone owned by Jones was also recovered near the falls. Police say an investigation into his death will continue, and hopefully answer all of the remaining questions.

Top photo by Getty Images / Stringer / Getty Images News / Getty Images