Missing Pike Lake boater's body recovered days after searches began

HARTFORD, Wis. - The Washington County Sheriff's Office on Sunday, Oct. 22 said the body of a missing 80-year-old Pike Lake boater has been recovered.

The sheriff's office first received a welfare check request Wednesday night, Oct. 18 after a woman said her husband never came home after going out on the lake.

Sunday, the sheriff's office said a boater called and believed they'd found the lost boater. A dive team responded and recovered the 80-year-old's body a short distance from short in approximately six feet of water not far from the beach area and boat ramp.

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The Hartford Fire Department said dive teams transitioned from search to recovery efforts Thursday afternoon. That day, police also found the man's pickup truck and empty boat trailer in a Pike Lake State Park parking lot.

"We found his small boat floating near shore on the northeast side of Pike Lake. It did not have any damage to it," Sheriff Martin Schulteis said Thursday.

Crews from at least seven different agencies were involved in the search.