Coroner: Drowning of 18-year-old at Douglas State Fishing Lake was accidental

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.

A coroner has concluded that the death of a teenager who drowned at Douglas State Fishing Lake last winter was accidental.

The evening of Feb. 18, a boat overturned in the lake, spilling two teenagers into the cold water, the Journal-World previously reported. One 17-year-old boy resurfaced, but 18-year-old Cameron Kirchner, of Gardner, did not.

Kirchner’s recently released autopsy report offers additional information on the fatal incident:

Kirchner’s parents told investigators their son would often fish at night. He did so the evening of Feb. 18 with two friends they were familiar with.

That night Kirchner, a 17-year-old friend and a 19-year-old friend made camp on the northwest side of Douglas State Fishing Lake, the teenagers told Douglas County Sheriff’s Office detectives after Kirchner’s death. The teens brought a boat, which belonged to the family of the 17-year-old friend.

“There were not many other campers, but there was a campfire visible across the lake,” the report says.

Around 9:30 p.m. Kirchner and the 17-year-old friend took the boat across the lake to the other campsite. The 19-year-old friend stayed behind because “they had been drinking.”

The two teenagers in the boat didn’t have oars, but used wooden planks to row the boat. The pair reached the second campsite without incident and made brief contact with the campers there.

Soon, the pair began to row their way back to their own campsite. During that time, the 17-year-old friend told investigators, he and Kirchner tried to switch sides within the boat “and the boat tipped, taking on water.”

As the boat sank, both teenagers began to swim. The 17-year-old friend could hear Kirchner swimming behind him, “but the sound of swimming ceased shortly after the boat sank.”

Once he made it to the shore, the 17-year-old friend asked the nearby campers to call 911. “His limbs were locked up and he was unable to walk after getting out of the water,” the report says.

Authorities looked for Kirchner’s body underwater for two days without success. They eventually found his body on the lake bed the afternoon of Feb. 22 “and the area around him was clear of any significant findings.”

An autopsy was later performed, and Dr. Altaf Hossain found the cause of death to be drowning and the manner of death to be accidental. In addition, at the time of his death, Kirchner was not intoxicated with either alcohol or drugs, Hossain wrote.

Previously, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Kristen Dymacek said neither Kirchner nor the 17-year-old friend was wearing a life jacket when their boat overturned.