News

Jul 19, 2023

Man's body recovered from Summit lake two days after kayak mishap

SUMMIT - After a search that lasted more than 17 hours and involved as many as 50 rescue and search personnel, authorities on Thursday recovered the body of a man who drowned in a kayak mishap two

SUMMIT - After a search that lasted more than 17 hours and involved as many as 50 rescue and search personnel, authorities on Thursday recovered the body of a man who drowned in a kayak mishap two days earlier.

However, police said the investigation is ongoing to determine exactly what happened Tuesday, when the man and two children, who escaped unharmed, fell into the water on Lower Nemahbin Lake after their kayak overturned at about 6 p.m. within eyesight of North Breezeland Road.

Village of Summit police, Western Lakes Fire District and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resource officials jointly announced the body of the man, believed to have recently lived in Milwaukee, was found deep in the heavily weeded section of the lake at about 7:30 a.m. Thursday. Authorities have not yet identified the man.

"In closing, a very tragic event for our community, for the family and friends of the victim, and also our first responders," WLFD Chief Bradley Bowen said at a news conference Thursday morning, also thanking residents for cooperating and keeping the lake access roads clear.

The initial rescue and subsequent recovery effort, which at one point involved about 50 personnel from county, state and local agencies, was aided by sonar equipment, emergency response boats, drones and other specialized equipment used in water searches, authorities said. Specially trained dive teams also used underwater cameras.

Despite the extensive effort, the search still consumed time because of the weedy lake bottom, which inhibited the ability of the sonar waves, and made visual underwater searches difficult. The lake's maximum depth is about 36 feet, but the apparent accident occurred in an area ranging from five to 23 feet deep — with sharp inclines and declines in the lake bed also complicating recovery efforts.

"In some incidents, it's really easy to find missing victims," DNR Warden Supervisor Lt. Drew Starch said. "In this case, we had a lot of difficulties and challenges out there."

Starch confirmed earlier reports that the man was not wearing a life vest and didn't have access to any personal flotation device onboard. The two children, who were not family members, were wearing life jackets and were able to call for help and get the attention of shoreline bystanders.

"Any time we have a tragic event like this incident, we use it as an opportunity to broadcast a safety message to the public," Starch said. "Wearing the life jacket does save lives. More than 90% of boat fatalities are related to drowning incidents involving the victim not wearing a life jacket."

Summit Police Chief Michael Hartert also acknowledged information contained in a post on X, the social platform formerly called Twitter, from Waukesha Alerts, which stated the man reportedly could not swim.

"That statement was made to us," Hartert said at the news conference. "I cannot confirm it yet, so we are working on that, and it is part of the investigation. And that's a very critical factor."

Authorities don't yet know what caused the kayak to tip over or what else might have contributed to the accident itself. Starch said the investigation will likely at least consider whether a wake from a passing water vehicle may have contributed to the incident, though authorities had no such specifics to report Thursday.

Contact Jim Riccioli at (262) 446-6635 [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at@jariccioli.