October 21, 2023 – Hartford, WI – Washington County Dive Team has paused its search of Pike Lake for an 80-year-old man who went missing late Wednesday night, October 18, 2023. According to the Washington County Sheriff’s Department the man’s boat was found, and several eyewitnesses stepped forward, however “all leads have been exhausted.”
The Sheriff’s Department said, “Unless we get a credible lead that would provide us an area to search we won’t be back out. The DNR will continue to check the lake on a daily basis, but the search operation is done.”
Crews were on the lake Thursday until about 3:30 p.m. when dark clouds with possible lightning pushed in. Friday, search crews and boats were on the lake from 9 a.m. until dark.
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On Thursday, emergency vehicles from across Washington County, WI peppered the parking lot near the swimming area of Pike Lake State Park as dive teams worked from 9 a.m. until about 3:30 p.m.
Authorities acknowledged as dark clouds and a downpour swept through the area that the rescue effort had changed to a recovery effort.
Members of the Washington County Dive Team exited the water on Thursday, as dark clouds loomed on the horizon. A couple divers, tethered with a rope, continued to scour the water near the boat launch, their fluorescent yellow flippers visible from the shore.
The family of the missing man visited the site and watched the search from the shore as fire chiefs from Slinger and Hartford worked to direct the removal of boats from the water.
Neighboring churches across the community are starting prayer chains as they pray for the man’s safe return.
Below is an initial release from the Washington County Sheriff.
On Wednesday, October 18, 2023, at 9:06 PM, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office received a request to check the welfare of a boater on Pike Lake in the Town of Hartford. The caller reported that her 80-year-old husband had gone out to the lake several hours ago but had not yet returned home.
Mutual aid was requested from Hartford Police Department to check the boat launch parking lot at the Pike Lake State Park to attempt to locate the truck and trailer registered to the subject.
An officer from the Hartford Police Department located a pickup truck and empty boat trailer registered to the subject parked in the lot.
Deputies immediately responded to Pike Lake with the Sheriff’s Office patrol boat and began a search of the lake. Conservation wardens with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources also responded with a patrol boat.
Approximately five minutes after arriving on the lake, deputies located the subject’s unoccupied boat located on the east shore of the lake, north of the Pike Lake State Park beach. It did not appear to have been involved in a collision.
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office Dive Team was notified, and they responded to the scene. The following fire departments responded to assist in the area search and dive operations: Hartford Fire Department, Richfield Fire Department, Kewaskum Fire Department, Slinger Fire Department, Allenton Fire Department, and the West Bend Fire Department. Wisconsin State Patrol also responded.
A search of the lake and immediate vicinity was conducted via use of multiple patrol boats with sonar capabilities and an aerial drone.
After several hours of searching, the subject was not located, and search operations were suspended for the night. The search has been scheduled to resume during daylight hours.
No further information is available at this time. This incident remains under investigation by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
