On 7/20/2012, shortly after 1:00 pm, the victim left the Queen City Yatch Club.  He had stated he was going into Lake Washington to work on the wood deck of his boat, a 1965, 48' Chriscraft.  At 6:58 pm, King County Sheriff received a dispatch call indicating Operator's Chriscraft had washed up on the beach.  On deck was a Honda generator running, an extension cord was plugged into the generator, the middle length of the extension cord was coiled around the rear deck hatch, and the free end was hanging over the starboard side of the boat.  At the end of the extension cord was a heat gun and a tethered puddy knife.  The cord with heat gun was hanging into the water about 20'.  Fresh varnish removal was noted on the starboard side of the cabin.  This was the narrowest part of the deck area between the cabin and the unprotected edge of the boat, the railing that was normally mounted in this area was removed.  Marks on the decking were consistent with heating the varnish and scrapping it off with the tethered puddy knife.  Further all deck railing and cleats had been removed in what appears to be a restoration project of the boat. 

A water search was made looking for Operator.  Participating in the search was King County Sheriff Marine and Air units, Seattle Harbor Patrol, Waterways tour vessel, various private vessels and the US Coast Guard.  During the search officers were dispatched to Operator's home there was no answer at the door. 

Operator's car was located at the Queen City Yatch Club.  A check of the slip confirmed an empty slip.  Additional checks at the Operator home were made with no contact.  A Deputy left his card at the door. 

On the morning of 7/21/2012, (Operator's wife) called the King County Sheriff's office.  She stated that she had not been able to reach her husband since yesterday morning.  She was advised of the incident. 

On 7/26/2012, Verizon Wireless were able to provide one data point where Operator's cell phone was contacted by their towers.  This position was N47.67531 North & Minus 122.22984 West.  Seattle Harbor assisted by making several sonar searches of the possible drift path of Operator's boat.  This sonar search is ongoing at this time (7/27/2012). 

12/12/12 - Sent e-mail request to King County Sheriff's Office requesting current status of the investigation. 

12/20/12 - Received reply from King County Sheriff's Office.  Despite the efforts of Seattle Harbor Patrol and two civilian companies, Operator's body has not been located
 
01/03/2013 - Received information from King County Sheriff's Office.  "There is no further information in reference to this case.  Several private companies as well as Seattle Harbor attempted to locate the body with sonar but had no luck.  We are not conducting any further operations in reference to this case."

Kirkland                      