Dive teams resume search for swimmer
Teenage boy disappeared on Candlewood Lake
NEW MILFORD — Even as rain rolled through the area, divers and first responders continued searching Tuesday — with no success — for the missing teen last seen Monday swimming in Candlewood Lake.
“The diving teams have been unable to locate the missing swimmer,” New Milford Mayor Pete Bass posted on Facebook about 5 p.m. Tuesday. “State diving team will continue until dark then all diving teams will resume tomorrow morning.”
Authorities have not released the name of the 17-year-old boy, who apparently drowned in Candlewood Lake.
Crews spent hours Monday searching for him below the water off Dike Point Park, where the teen had celebrated Memorial Day with friends. New Milford Police Sgt. Jim Dzamko said detectives have interviewed the missing teen’s friends.
The teens had been swimming near Rock Island, where the water is 20 to 30 feet deep, Dzamko said.
Dike Point Park, owned by FirstLight Power Resources, which also owns Candlewood, is a popular swimming area in New Milford. FirstLight implemented rules in 2016, restricting the number of people in the park to 60 and the number of cars to 10. Before that, hundreds of people would be in the park, leading to littering and similar problems.
FirstLight did not return a request for comment.
On Tuesday, boats with search equipment and dogs scanned the waters and shoreline south of the Gerard’s Waters Edge Marina, next to Dike Point Park.
The murky waters hindered divers’ ability to find him, Dzamko said. Sonar equipment picked up several hits in the water, but it was unclear what it meant.
“It could be a body,” Dzamko said. “It could be a couple of rocks.”
Crews halted the search after darkness fell Monday and resumed the next day. The search turned into a recovery operation for the boy’s body on Tuesday.
Officials from New Milford Police Department, the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and State Police gathered under a tent in the marina’s parking lot Tuesday as the rain fell. Newtown Underwater Search and Rescue Team’s truck was parked nearby. A New Milford ambulance sat in the parking lot all day.
Brookfield police’s dive team did not get into the water Monday, said Patrolman Joseph Kyek, who is on the team. The team of six could be called again to help relieve the divers, but as of Tuesday afternoon had not been asked, he said.
The last drowning death on Candlewood Lake was on Oct. 21. Gary Hayes, 48, of East Hartford, drowned after a boat capsized. Officials received a report around 12:30 p.m. about an overturned vessel with two men on board. The other man was able to swim to shore despite the cold water temperatures and refused medical treatment.
Fifteen drowning deaths were recorded between 1998 and 2010, according to state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.