DODGE COUNTY — Authorities in Dodge County believe they have pulled the body of a man who disappeared in Fox Lake last month while out on a canoe during rough conditions.
The Dodge County Sheriff's Office said in a statement Friday that crews recovered the body of a man on Thursday and turned the body over to the county's medical examiner.
Their preliminary investigation finds the man to be the same man who disappeared into the lake after his canoe capsized on April 21. First responders were able to save the other person, a 34-year-old woman, who also had been paddling in the canoe. She recovered in an area hospital.
But for two weeks, the man remained missing. Divers deployed to the lake numerous times, often fighting strong wind conditions on the lake that at one point reached 30 miles per hour. "This created dangerous conditions for anyone in small watercraft," the sheriff's office said.
The office explained that dive teams always have the final say if divers will go into the water when facing dangerous conditions.
Members of the sheriff's office were on the lake every day since the man disappeared. They searched above the water and below, and used sonar devices including a side-scan device on the sheriff's office boat. Points were marked so that crews could remember where to continue the search.
The medical examiner will "ensure a final positive identification" on the body before the man's name is released to the public.
