Search for 17-year-old boy at Douglas County State Fishing Lake moves from rescue to recovery

Representatives from the Douglas County Sheriff's Office and the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks searched Monday, Feb. 20, 2017, for one of two teenagers who were thrown into the Douglas State Fishing Lake on Saturday after a boat capsized.

Update (Feb. 21): Person missing in state fishing lake actually 18-year-old man, deputies say; search continues

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The search for one of two teenagers thrown into the Douglas County State Fishing Lake after their boat capsized has turned from a rescue into a recovery, deputies said.

Saturday night a jon boat overturned in the lake, spilling two 17-year-old boys into the waters, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Kristen Dymacek said. The accident happened around 10 p.m.

One boy surfaced, but the other did not and a search was launched by officials from the sheriff’s office and the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, Dymacek said.

Douglas County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Kristen Dymacek on the west shore of the Douglas County State Fishing Lake as crews continued searching on Monday for one of two teenagers who were thrown into the lake on Saturday after a boat capsized.

It does not appear the teenagers were wearing life jackets when they went into the water, Dymacek said. First responders are still gathering information, but as of Monday afternoon they believe the incident to be an accident.

There were other boats on the lake, which does not have closing hours, at the time of the accident, Dymacek said. However, none of the other boats were there with the teenagers.

Crews searched for the missing boy all day Sunday until it was too dark to continue, Dymacek said. They began searching once again early Monday morning and had not found him by the afternoon.

Dymacek said the Douglas County Underwater Search and Recovery team alongside the KDWP were moving across the water, which is approximately 30 feet deep “looking for any indication there could be something on the bottom.”

The water is approximately 40 degrees, which has slowed the search, Dymacek said. In addition the high winds and murky conditions under the silt-bottomed lake have led to “low visibility, especially if it’s stirred up.”

As the search continued on Monday, most of the roads leading to the lake were blocked off by sheriff’s deputies, while three boats circled near the lake’s north shore.

Monday afternoon, divers found a boat underwater; however, Dymacek said they had not yet confirmed it was the same boat from Saturday’s accident.

Baldwin City resident Virgil Collins watched on Monday as representatives from the Douglas County Sheriff's Office and the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks continued searching for one of two teenagers who were thrown into the Douglas County State Fishing Lake on Saturday after a boat capsized.

About half a dozen local residents watched from the lake’s west shore as crews continued their search. Among them was Virgil Collins.

Collins said he has been fishing the lake for years, sometimes from a boat and sometimes from land. He watched the boats on Monday through a pair of binoculars.

Collins, 53, said he was out at the lake on Saturday and that the scene was packed. However, unlike him, few of the people there appeared to be from the area.

“I looked at all their tags,” he said. “They were mostly from Johnson County and Wyandotte County.”

All throughout Saturday, there were as many as 20 boat trailers and trucks parked around the area, Collins said. He did not, however, stay into the evening hours when the teenagers’ boat turned over.

The lake is a popular fishing spot for locals and out-of-towners alike, Collins said.

“It’s probably the first or second best in Kansas,” he said. “Crappie, bass, channel cat, sunfish.”

And though the lake is popular, Collins said accidents are rare. The same goes for trouble.

Dymacek said crews would continue searching the lake until dark Monday.