NORTH WEBSTER - A 35-year-old man drowned in James Lake mid-afternoon Thursday as he floated near a pontoon carrying five close friends. A cavalcade of emergency response personnel were called just before 3 p.m. for a report of a possible drowning in the waters of James Lake, which lies on the east end of the expansive Tippecanoe Lake near North Webster. Crews following GPS coordinates from a cell phone used to report the incident descended upon the lake’s north side, where a group of pontoon riders said their friend had been floating along side the boat using a pool floatation noodle and inexplicably drifted below the surface, according to Indiana Conservation Officer Cpl. Erick Bolt. Dive teams from several agencies combed the deep waters for nearly four hours before an Indiana State Police dive team recovered the man’s body just before 7 p.m., Bolt said. He was submerged 47 feet below the surface, Bolt said. The Indiana Conservation Office has identified the man as 35-year-old school teacher Martin L. Regan of Orland Hills, Ill. Bolt said the group - a collection of teachers celebrating the end of the school year - had been out on the lake “making a day of it,” boating, fishing and swimming off the pontoon boat. Regan had been floating near the boat when the group told investigators that they had looked over at a passing boat and looked back to see him sink below the water’s surface and disappear. The group reported that they “never heard him yell or cry for help or anything. He just slipped below the surface,” Bolt said. Bolt described Regan as a “good swimmer.” After Regan went under, Bolt said the group motored over to a nearby boat and asked its occupants to use their cell phone to call for help. They called the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department, who responded along with Indiana conservation, Warsaw police and fire, Webster police, fire and EMS, and Indiana State Police. The lake could be seen spotted with numerous enforcement and emergency boats working the recovery and investigation. The Indiana State Police Underwater Search Rescue Team used side scan sonar and GPS to canvassed the lake floor, according to state police spokesman Trent Smith. Regan’s body appeared on sonar after some 80 minutes of searching, and divers Sgt. Alan Lowrance and Trooper Keith Bikowski recovered him from the depths, according to Smith. Bolt could not say whether alcohol or drugs was a factor, saying it remains under investigation. He said the manner and cause of death is still to be determined, which will occur following an autopsy today. Bolt described Regan’s friends and pontoon occupants as “very cooperative” throughout the investigation.
