NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WVEC) -- Newport News and York County Fire departments have identified the missing boater who's body was found in a lake behind an apartment complex Thursday afternoon.
The body of Ronald Jerome Thornton, 54, was recovered from the lake on Lochaven Dr. behind the Lochaven apartment community in Newport News.
Dispatch tells 13News Now a call came shortly before 7:30 Wednesday evening. Officials say bystanders pulled a man from the water after his boat overturned. The man indicated that there was another person with him in the boat, however, no one else at the scene saw him.
According to Deputy Chief Kenneth Lay, the initial search was called off at midnight. Emergency crews from York County and Newport News returned to the scene around 6 a.m. Thursday. He is said to be 54 years old.
Newport News Fire Department Battalion Chief Jay Culpepper says crews are using boats with side-scanning sonar to search the man-made lake, which is about 10 to 15 feet deep. The boats take pictures of objects at the bottom of the water and, if something looks large enough to be a person, the divers will go for the object.
Around 1:30 p.m., search crews found and recovered a body, believed to be the missing boater.
Spoke with a man who says the victim who was rescued asked to use his phone. pic.twitter.com/a1fYx4pRGK
— Elise Brown (@13EliseDBrown) June 23, 2016