On December 1, 2001, Victim went to Sullivan Lake to fish around 1500 hours.  Victim was by himself, after phoning several friends in an attempt to get someone to go fishing with him.  Victim had been at his wife's residence earlier in the afternoon at about 1300 hours to visit with her and his mother.  Victim and his wife, Sue, had been separated since November 21, 2011.  While he was at wife’s residence on December 1, he had consumed a couple of beers.  Victim seemed somewhat impaired but coherent.  His speech was slow and lethargic, but his thought process seemed good.  He had also brought several beers with him in his boat while fishing.  Victim has also been prescribed several medications which he takes regularly.  Xanax and Mehtadone are two examples of what he was currently taking.  Alcohol is not to be consumed while taking either of these medications.

At approximately 1500 hours this same day, Victim arrives at Sullivan Lake and launches his boat at the main boat ramp, located at the Sullivan County Park.  After launching, he parks his truck (White Jeep) and boat trailer on the north side of the parking lot.  He gets in his boat and drives it toward the dam on the south side of the lake.  He makes a loop around the south end of the lake and turns his boat northward.  The boat is not running correctly as the bow of the boat does not seem to want to plane out.  This problem is a result of a large amount of water in the boat's bilge compartment.  The water is a collection of rain water that came from large volumes of rain in the Sullivan area on November 27-29.  

Victim had just purchased this boat about 2 months ago and was storing it at his temporary residence in Sullivan.  This temporary residence did not have a garage or carport in which to store the boat and trailer.  Victim placed a plastic tarp over the boat and motor, but the cover was not without holes, cracks, or leaks.  The boat collected water and Victim did not drain the water from the boat prior to launching it on 12-1-11.

On December 1, 2011, at 1600 hours, there was an abandoned boat on the east side of Sullivan Lake.  Deputy had seen a boat riding around on the lake earlier, but had heard a crashing sound.  The boat's ignition key was turned on, the throttle lever was forward, and the motor was off when the boat was found.  The bilge compartment lid was open and the bilge compartment was nearly full of water.  There were several life jackets in the boat, but none were immediately accessible.  A pair of wet coveralls and a pair of tennis shoes were also found in the boat.  Officer saw another object floating in the water in the middle of Sullivan Lake.  

Victim's boat was removed from the lake and impounded for inspection.  All systems on the boat were functional with one exception.  The bilge pump was wired to a switch labeled as a live well pump, and the live well pump was wired to a switch labeled as a bilge pump.  Both pumps worked properly, but were wired and labeled incorrectly.  The reason that these were wired this way is uncertain.  The bilge compartment was full of water, and it appears that Victim was aware of it and was trying to correct the issue.  The compartment lid was open and wet coveralls and tennis shoes were found in the boat.  These could have gotten wet while Victim was trying to drain the water in the bilge compartment.  Once he realized that they were wet and the possibility of becoming hypothermic was getting stronger, Victim decides to take the wet coveralls off.  In order to take the coveralls off, he removes his tennis shoes.  He returns to the rear of the boat, while the boat was in forward gear (perhaps to help drain the water) and falls overboard without wearing a life jacket.  He is not able to return to the boat immediately because the boat is still moving forward.  He is not able to swim to back to the bank or back to his boat and quickly becomes hypothermic in the thirty-nine degree water.  Victim drowns.

Sullivan                      