The call and response

On 4/1/2013 at about 1800, I was dispatched to a boat found on Utah Lake with no one on board.   I responded from American Fork Canyon to Utah Lake State Park. The boat was found at N 40 degrees 20 minutes 06.7 seconds  W 111 degrees 46 minutes 21.3 seconds  in about 1.5 feet of water.  The water temperature at the time was 52 degrees.  When I got on board the boat I noticed that everything was very clean and tidy.  The engine was still in the run position with the key turned on.  The engine was not actually running though.  The throttle was at about 1/2 position.  There was a black hoodie wrapped very tightly around the prop.  I noticed there was material down near the prop and raised the motor to find out what it was.  When I realized it was a hoodie I felt it around the prop to make sure there was nothing else attached to it and then lowered the motor back down.  There was a cell phone on the boat that was still turned on and two fishing poles that were out put the lines were pulled in.  I found two adult PFDs and 1 child sized PFD stowed in the front compartment.  I found one dead white bass in the live well.  

While I was searching the boat Sgt. spoke on the phone with the wife of the registered owner. She said that her husband had gone fishing on Utah Lake like he usually does.  He left is house around eight in the morning and she had tried to call him several times since but had not been able to contact him.  

We searched the first night until about 1 am.  The search started back up at 6am the next morning.  Extensive searches with side scan sonar and dragging were done.  The county plane flew the area everyday several times. The DPS dive team as well as the county dive team also did searches.  Searches were also done with certified open water cadaver dogs.  The dogs did get some "hits" near the area the the victim was found.

Recovery

On 4/14/2013 at 0949, two weeks after victim went missing, he was spotted floating by his brother who was standing in Lindon Marina on shore with binoculars.  Officer responded from Utah Lake State Park and was able to get a rope round the body and hold on to it until county SAR personnel arrived to help get the body into a body bag.  There were no obvious signs of trauma to body. He was found at N 40 degrees 19.728 minutes W 111 degrees 46.233 minutes.  The depth of the water where he was recovered was about 4.7 feet and the water temperature was 54 degrees.

The Utah County Case number is 13UCO2835.

It is assumed the victim became ejected when the vessel was still underway.
Lindon