Divers Continue Search For Man On Lake Monona
Man Reported Missing Sunday Evening
Updated: 9:33 pm CDT August 19, 2008
MADISON, Wis. -- The Dane County Sheriff's Department is resuming its search for a missing swimmer on Lake Monona.
VIDEO: Watch The ReportThe search will continue until 7 p.m. on Tuesday and will resume again on Wednesday morning.Divers have shifted the mission of their search of the lake from search and rescue to search and recovery.Authorities have identified the missing man as Erik J. Jensen, 40, of Cottage Grove. Jensen was in a boat with three other people when he decided to go for a swim on Sunday near Law Park and never returned to the boat. He was reported missing around 6 p.m. Sunday.Members of the Dane County Sheriff's Office Marine and Trail Unit and the Dane County Dive Team responded and searched the area where the swimmer was last seen until about 10 p.m. on Sunday."He was out with friends yesterday, as many people were out on the lakes, and just having a good time on the boat and he decided to get in the water. And if you don't have a floatation device on, that's a risky thing to do," said Elise Schaffer, spokeswoman for the Dane County Sheriff's Department.Dane County sheriff's officials were asking boaters to stay away from the part of Lake Monona near Law Park while they sent divers down search for the missing body. Authorities said they were having problems with onlookers on Monday.Divers were searching about a half-mile off the northern shoreline of Lake Monona, near the MG&E smokestacks. Authorities said that water in that area is very deep and divers said that that is making the search all the more difficult, WISC-TV reported."The lake is calm today, so that's good. But they are searching in very deep waters -- about 55 feet deep -- and the visibility is almost zero down there," Schaffer said. "So in terms of visibility, it's not good."Investigators said that they're unsure if alcohol played a role in the incident and they won't know until Jensen is recovered.
VIDEO: Watch The ReportThe search will continue until 7 p.m. on Tuesday and will resume again on Wednesday morning.Divers have shifted the mission of their search of the lake from search and rescue to search and recovery.Authorities have identified the missing man as Erik J. Jensen, 40, of Cottage Grove. Jensen was in a boat with three other people when he decided to go for a swim on Sunday near Law Park and never returned to the boat. He was reported missing around 6 p.m. Sunday.Members of the Dane County Sheriff's Office Marine and Trail Unit and the Dane County Dive Team responded and searched the area where the swimmer was last seen until about 10 p.m. on Sunday."He was out with friends yesterday, as many people were out on the lakes, and just having a good time on the boat and he decided to get in the water. And if you don't have a floatation device on, that's a risky thing to do," said Elise Schaffer, spokeswoman for the Dane County Sheriff's Department.Dane County sheriff's officials were asking boaters to stay away from the part of Lake Monona near Law Park while they sent divers down search for the missing body. Authorities said they were having problems with onlookers on Monday.Divers were searching about a half-mile off the northern shoreline of Lake Monona, near the MG&E smokestacks. Authorities said that water in that area is very deep and divers said that that is making the search all the more difficult, WISC-TV reported."The lake is calm today, so that's good. But they are searching in very deep waters -- about 55 feet deep -- and the visibility is almost zero down there," Schaffer said. "So in terms of visibility, it's not good."Investigators said that they're unsure if alcohol played a role in the incident and they won't know until Jensen is recovered.Several Drownings Occurred In Area Lakes
In a separate incident earlier Sunday, the body of Juan Cathey, 36, of Milwaukee, was recovered from the lake near the Monona Terrance Convention Center.The Madison Fire Department Lake Rescue Unit and the Dane County sheriff's marine unit responded to the lake Sunday after receiving a report of a body floating near the shoreline.In another incident in Oshkosh, an unidentified body was pulled from the Fox River. Emergency officials said that a boater reported seeing the body at about 4 p.m. on Saturday.Oshkosh police said that the man was already dead, and they think he had been in the water for a while.Stay tuned to WISC-TV and Channel 3000 for continuing coverage.Copyright 2008 by Channel 3000. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
