RedactedNarrative: Rangers called to a missing person on Elephant Butte Lake.  Two males were riding on a 2 person tube towed behind Vessel A at about 30mph when the tube overturned.  Both males were ejected, Tuber#1 surfaced but Victim#1 did not.  Neither man had PFDs on while on the towed tube.  Tuber#1 was unable to find the victim, and the boat passengers were unable to find the victim.  Searchers looked for several days with SONAR and by vessel.  A body believed to be the victim based on the tattoos and clothing was recovered 9/7/2016 floating on the surface.  Cause of death is unknown pending the report from the Office of the Medical Examiner.
  
  Narrative text:
  
  On 9/3/2016 at 131pm I (Officer#1) was notified by radio from Southwest Regional Dispatch regarding a tuber that had falling off his tube and did not resurface near the Elephant Butte.  I responded by patrol boat from just south of Rattlesnake Island to the Elephant Butte Area.  As I was responding I passed the New Mexico State Police Dive Boat, so I motioned for them to follow me to the Elephant Butte Island Area.  When I arrived on scene I observed a larger cabin cruiser with a male standing on the bow waving his hands to get my attention.  I pulled up alongside this vessel (TX xxxx xx) and asked what had happened.  The male standing on the bow (Tuber#1) told me that he and his buddy (Victim#1) were being pulled on a tube and that they could not find him after the tube turned over.  Tuber#1 told me that he was on the front of the tube with Victim#1 sitting directly behind him. They were just outside the wake on the port side when the tube turned over and ejected them both into the water.  Tuber#1 told me that after tipping over he resurfaced and noticed that his buddy had not.  Tuber#1 swam around looking for his friend but never saw him again.  The vessel was being driven by Operator#1 turned around to pick up the tubers and was told by Tuber#1 that he could find Victim#1. Tuber#1 reboarded the boat and climbed up onto the highest part of the boat near the bow to see if he could locate his friend. They searched the immediate area where the tube turned over and then called 911 when they were unable to locate him.
  
  After getting this initial information from Tuber#1 I relayed that information to Agent#1 on the NM State Dive Boat.  Officer#2 arrived on scene and started searching the immediate area using the SONAR Unit on his vessel.  Boating Manager#1 and the Chief of Law Enforcement#1 arrived on scene and attempted to get voluntary statements from some of the vessels in the area.  A United State Coast Guard Aux vessel operated by Auxiliarist#1 also arrived on scene and provided a safety perimeter for the patrol boats and dive boat.
  
  I then went back to the vessel that was involved in the incident and interviewed the passengers and operator.   Passenger#1 who was on board at the time of the accident told me they  were camped in the Dirt Dam Area south of Marina Del Sur for the weekend.  Earlier in the day they decided to go boating.  They left camp on their boat to go get ice from the Damsite Marina at the south end of the lake.  After they got ice they left Damsite Marina and stopped on the water to swim near Elephant Butte.  Tuber#1 and Victim#1 were jumping off the boat and swimming.
  
  After swimming for awhile they decided to go tubing.  Tuber#1 and Victim#1 jumped into the water and got on the tube.  They were asked if they wanted life jackets and they said no.  They had only been tubing for a minute or so when the tube turned over.  This incident was captured on video which was recorded on Operator#1's phone. (see video 1).
  
  Passenger#1 told me that Victim#1 had one beer earlier that morning and had eaten a breakfast burrito for breakfast and was in good physical shape and was happy and in good spirits.  Passenger#1 stated Victim#1 was around 6'4" 190lbs with short blond hair.  Passenger#1 also showed me two pictures of Victim#1 which shows a large tattoo across his chest that says "Grind Hard Stay Humble" and a red skull on his upper left arm (see photos 1 and 2).  He also has a map of Texas on his right hip area.  Passenger#1 told me that Victim#1 was a strong swimmer.   
  
  This information was given to Sgt#1 who is the commander of the NM State Police Dive Team. Sgt#1 reinterviewed the passengers and operator of the vessel on 9/4/2016.  Sgt#1 accompanied the boat operator (Operator#1) back out on the water to the location of the incident.  Using the video captured on the cell phone and a GPS Unit on board the vessel they attempted to get a better location of the incident.  The NM Dive Team boat then performed a SONAR search of the possible drowning location and conducted an underwater search on the afternoon of 9/4/2016.  As of 9/5/2016 no recovery has been made.  The NM State Police Dive Team will continue to use SONAR to mark possible locations to dive on.  NM State Park Rangers/MEOs will conduct daily searches of the area and shoreline until the victim is recovered.
  
   A courtesy marine examination was conducted on TX xxxx xx.  This vessel had all required carriage equipment except a one gallon size bailing bucket.
  
  Voluntary Statements were obtained from all boat passengers and tuber (Passenger#2, Passenger#1, and Tuber#1) and the boat operator (Operator#1) by Officer#1.  One voluntary statement was obtained by Boating Manager#1 from a passenger (Witness#1) of another boat in the area at the time of the accident.
  
  A missing persons report was submitted by State Police Officer#2 and entered into NCIC on 9/3/2016.
  
  Victim#1’s Army chain of command was also notified (Soldier#1 and Soldier#2).  They will need to be notified as soon as the body is recovered.  Soldier#1 will be the Army Contact at (xxx) xxx-xxxx or Soldier#2 (xxx) xxx-xxxx.
  
  An investigator with the Office of the Medical Investigator (OMI) interviewed Operator#1, Passenger#2, Tuber#1 and Passenger#1 at approximately 700pm on the day of the incident.
  
  Puma Recording xxxxxxx
  
  On 11/28/2016, a copy of the Report of Finding was obtained from the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator.  The case number is 2016-xxxxx and it was 10/10/2016.  The Report of Finding lists drowning as the cause of death, and accident as the manner of death.  The report states that no trauma was found on the victim.  The toxicology report indicates that his femoral blood contained 0.11g/ 100ml of Ethanol and no drugs-of-abuse.
  This case has been ruled an accidental drowning and is now closed.
  