Missing man jumped into Lucky Peak without life jacket after children’s tubes flipped
The Ada County Sheriff’s Office provided new information Monday about a reported drowning at Lucky Peak Lake on Sunday afternoon.
Marine deputies received a call at about 5 p.m. Sunday that a man went into the water and did not resurface.
Witnesses told deputies that the man, who is 35 years old, was on a ski boat with several other people about 300 to 400 yards from Turner Gulch, according to the sheriff’s office. The boat was towing children on tubes, and all of them were wearing life jackets.
When the tubes flipped, the man jumped into the lake to try to help the kids; he was not wearing a life jacket. He was not able to get back to the boat before he went underwater and did not re-emerge, sheriff’s officials said.
The Ada County sheriff’s dive team and the Boise Fire Department’s dive team arrived soon after and made multiple dives in the area he was last seen. Patrick Orr, Ada County sheriff’s spokesperson, said the man had not been found as of Monday morning.
“The water in the area he was last seen is very deep — over 100 feet down and as deep as 150 feet,” Orr told the Idaho Statesman in an email.
The sheriff’s dive team plans to resume recovery efforts Tuesday with help from Gene Ralston, of Kuna, who has had success finding bodies in Lucky Peak before.
Ralston, 78, is considered one of the country’s leading experts in recovering bodies from water and owns advanced equipment. He will use his expertise in sonar to help locate the man, Orr said.
Lucky Peak Lake, which is part of Lucky Peak State Park and is located just southeast of Boise, was the scene of several drownings last summer.
This story was originally published July 24, 2023 at 1:12 PM.
