Victim left his residence around 8:30 a.m. to go to the lake by himself , and was to return home around 5:00 p.m. Victim parked his car at the dead end of Silver lake road just to the east of the intersection with Sand Creek road in Reno County, Kansas. Victim took out his canoe by himself. Weather reports from the day indicated wind speeds over 30 MPH and gusts over 40 MPH. When Victim did not return by 7:00 p.m. Victim''s brother in law went to Cheney Reserviour to look for him. Shortly after the Reno county sheriff''s department was notified and dispatched deputies to search the area. After searching all of the coves on the west side of the lake from shore the decision was made to use KDWPT''s patrol boat to search the shoreline from the water. Victim''s family members also began to search the east side of the lake from the shore. The Kansas Highway patrol was contacted and deployed an aircraft equiped with a FLIR unit to assist in the search, however the aircraft could not locate Victim. Victim''s canoe was located by a couple of individuals using a small john boat near the shore near the intersection of Pretty Prairie road and Obee road. At approximately 3:30 a.m. Victim''s body was located about 80 yards to the south of where his canoe was located. Victim was recovered wearing his life jacket. The Sedgwick county coroner took possesion of Victim''s body for transport to have an autopsy performed.
Pretty Prairie