Status of lake search unclear

BROOKFIELD — The status of the search for the 24-year-old man who went missing in Candlewood Lake last weekend was unclear Thursday.

The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection had been sending out updates about the suspension and resumption of the ongoing search, but updates were not provided Wednesday night or Thursday morning. The department could not be reached for comment on Thursday.

Brookfield’s first selectman and police chief told Hearst Connecticut Media they also had not received any updates from DEEP as of Thursday afternoon.

“I don’t know what they’re doing today. I haven’t heard,” First Selectman Tara Carr said around 1:40 p.m.

The search for the swimmer began Sunday evening, after DEEP’s conservation police responded to a report of a person who went missing after going into the water from a vessel on Candlewood Lake.

DEEP spokesperson Will Healey said the vessel was not moving when the person — whose name has not been released — went missing.

Carr said Tuesday that the person is suspected to have drowned.

Around 1 p.m. Wednesday — the fourth day of the search — Healey put out a statement asking members of the public who were around the Brookfield Bay area of Candlewood Lake between 5:30 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. Sunday to call conservation police at 860-9048154.

The statement also said the search remained ongoing. Healey did not return phone calls or email requests for an update on the search Thursday afternoon.

Local fire and police agencies, as well as the state police dive team and Candlewood Lake Authority, have been involved in the search efforts led by DEEP, which has jurisdiction over the lake.

Brookfield Police Chief John Puglisi said his department’s dive team had been assisting DEEP in the search but they weren’t called to the lake Thursday.

“Our dive team has been acting in support of the DEEP operations because they don’t have their own dive team,” he said, noting that up until Wednesday, Brookfield’s dive team had been out on the lake helping with the search efforts.

“They were out full-time and they would swap out,” Puglisi said. “I think NUSAR (Newtown Underwater Search and Rescue) went out last night, but our dive team operations have ceased until we get called again.”

Although he doesn’t know what the status of the search is, Puglisi said he does not believe the missing person has been found.

“We would know if he was because we (Brookfield police) are going to get the call first,” he said.