Area of Lake Beulah closed as search continues
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TOWN OF EAST TROY—The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is temporarily closing Mill Pond -- the site of a fatal canoe incident on Lake Beulah in the town of East Troy—as the search for a missing Illinois man continues, according to a news release from the state DNR Thursday.
Four Illinois men, all in their 20s, were staying at a home on Lake Beulah were reported missing the morning of Jan. 3 by friends who spotted an overturned canoe on the lake. The men were believed to have drowned when their canoe overturned and thin ice across the lake hampered them from getting back into the boat.
Authorities discovered the bodies of Lanny Patrick Sack, 20, and Christopher J. McQuillen, 21, shortly after they were reported missing on Jan. 3. The body of Mori Weinstein, 21, was found on Jan. 4.
Dive crews and emergency personnel have continued recovery efforts for the body of the fourth man, not yet identified, according to the release.
Crews are using sonar, said Jason Roberts, a Wisconsin DNR recreational safety warden, but conditions have made the recovery difficult.
“Divers are continuing to focus search efforts near the locations where the other victims were recovered,” Roberts said in the release. “The freezing and thawing of ice has made recovery efforts a challenge. Plus, there is a significant amount of weed coverage off the shoreline area in which recovery efforts are focused.”
Roberts said recovery efforts will continually be evaluated on an hourly and daily basis.
Ice thickness is 1-1.5” thick along and out from shore with some pockets of open water throughout the lake.
The DNR is heading the ongoing investigation.
The Town of East Troy Police Department will enforce the pond's closing, according to the release.
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