MARINETTE (NBC 26) — John Milatzo, the last person to see Billy Salnik before his disappearance, plans a community water search of Green Bay for Sunday starting in Marinette.
- Meet the last person to see Billy Salnik and his children before their disappearance over the weekend
- John Milatzo is planning a community search for people to come together to help find Billy
- The search will begin at 10 a.m. at Red Arrow Park in Marinette Sunday
- Anyone is welcome, and food or water donations would be appreciated
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story.)
The search continues for a missing boater. I'm Pari Apostolakos in Marinette, where the last person to see Billy Salnik takes to the water again to find his friend. In an exclusive interview Thursday, I spoke with him. I also spoke with the mother of Billy's children, whose bodies were found Monday.
John Milatzo was Billy Salnik's friend and says he met him because of biking.
"He had a little shop in Green Bay, he did his little bike services," Milatzo said. "He just had a small little shop and just had a little group that we hung out."
John says he took his new jet ski and met Billy on the water in the bay of Green Bay on Saturday, where they eventually used Billy's boat to sail to Green Island.
There, they ate and played with Billy's kids, Charolette (5) and Joshua (3), leaving some time between 4 and 5 p.m.
"That's when we were noticing the sky was getting a little bit dark over land," Milatzo said. "That's where he was saying that there's supposed to be storms in the morning, that's why he wanted to chase them back and get to Oconto before the storms hit."
John headed back to Marinette and messaged Billy, asking if he had gotten back to Oconto.
Billy did not answer.
By the next day, after more messages, John went to Oconto to look for his friend.
"I seen his vehicle and then my heart sank," Milatzo said. "It was Sunday, so there was no harbor master. I just ran up to a random person and I was like 'What do I do here?' I couldn't even [speak] words weren't coming out."
John's call to police over the weekend started the search which found Charolette and Joshua's bodies on Monday, their life vests tied together.
The Door County Sheriff's Office says they are on the water Thursday, with the help of a local fire department and dogs trained to search for people in water with plans to continue boat searches for Billy through the weekend.
John has spent the past week searching on his own, desperate to find his friend.
"Definitely didn't expect this to be the end result," Milatzo said.
I spoke with the children's mother, Daisy, in Marinette Thursday. Daisy says they first identified the children's bodies on Tuesday. It was Daisy's first time seeing their children, who lived with Billy and their grandmother, in three years.
They then had a private viewing along with Billy's mother, Tina, on Wednesday.
John is planning a community search Sunday starting at Red Arrow Park in Marinette at 10 a.m.
He says the plan is to search the water and possibly dock at Green and Chambers Islands to search on foot. In Marinette, Pari Apostolakos NBC 26.
