Cambridge man killed in ATV mishap

CAMBRIDGE -- The body of a rural Cambridge man was found Tuesday morning after he apparently died in an ATV accident some time Monday evening.

Frontier County Sheriff Dan Rupp reported this morning that Robert Sandman, 59, was found by spotters in the Nebraska State Patrol aircraft, called in to help search when Sandman did not return home after checking his cattle at his residence north of Cambridge in rural Frontier county.

Sheriff Rupp said Sandman's wife began looking for him about 9 p.m., Monday, and called neighbors and family to help.

The sheriff's office and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission were notified shortly after midnight, Rupp said, and the Patrol aircraft based in Ogallala was called in about 2 a.m.

At 7 a.m., Tuesday, Cambridge fire and rescue personnel joined the search.

Sandman's body was found from the air shortly after 9 a.m., Tuesday, Rupp said. "The ATV he was riding had hit a washout hidden by tall weeds, throwing him into the bank on the other side," the sheriff said. Sandman was pronounced dead at the scene. He had apparently died several hours earlier, at the time of the accident, Rupp said.

The sheriff said about 50 to 60 family members, friends, neighbors, law enforcement officers and fire and rescue personnel searched approximately 320 acres of farm, ranch and creek bottom land before Sandman's body was found.

Sheriff Rupp said his office and the Sandman family thanked everyone involved in the search.

Sandman is survived by his wife, Linda; his daughter, B.J., and husband, Greg Puttergill, of Tryon; two grandchildren, both of Tryon; his mother, Onna, of Cambridge; and his brother, Roger, of Phoenix, Ariz.

Services will be Friday, at 2 p.m., at Trinity United Methodist Church, Cambridge, with interment in the Fairview Cemetery, Cambridge.