NORTH WEBSTER – A 40-year-old Syracuse man drowned Sunday while fishing in a small lake in the Tri County Fish & Wildlife area.
Authorities have positively identified Raymond Barker Jr. as the man pulled from Wyland Lake just before 8 p.m. Sunday - more than 13 hours after family said he had set out fishing for the day.
Around 2 p.m., a kayaker on the 6-acre lake in the northeastern corner of the county called 911 after she came across an unoccupied Bass Hunter mini-boat with its motor running and moving in circles on the southern part of the lake, according to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Barker’s pickup was parked just off the bank.
Indiana Conservation officers and Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Dept. deputies converged on the lake, and after reaching Barker’s family to verify he’d been on the lake and learning that he’d been fishing since 6:30 a.m., crews began a search and recover mission.
A hat was located across the lake, well away from where Barker’s small boat was found, the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department said, prompting dive teams to perform grid-canvassing in the cool spring-fed lake with sonar.
A hit was made on the sonar around 7 p.m., the sheriff’s department said, and at 7:53 p.m., Barker’s body was pulled from the waters by conservation and county divers.
Barker had been submerged in 37 feet of water, Indiana Conservation officers said.
An autopsy will be performed by the Kosciusko County Coroner’s Office to determine Baker’s exact cause of death.
NORTH WEBSTER – A 40-year-old Syracuse man drowned Sunday while fishing in a small lake in the Tri County Fish & Wildlife area.
Authorities have positively identified Raymond Barker Jr. as the man pulled from Wyland Lake just before 8 p.m. Sunday - more than 13 hours after family said he had set out fishing for the day.
Around 2 p.m., a kayaker on the 6-acre lake in the northeastern corner of the county called 911 after she came across an unoccupied Bass Hunter mini-boat with its motor running and moving in circles on the southern part of the lake, according to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Barker’s pickup was parked just off the bank.
Indiana Conservation officers and Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Dept. deputies converged on the lake, and after reaching Barker’s family to verify he’d been on the lake and learning that he’d been fishing since 6:30 a.m., crews began a search and recover mission.
A hat was located across the lake, well away from where Barker’s small boat was found, the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department said, prompting dive teams to perform grid-canvassing in the cool spring-fed lake with sonar.
A hit was made on the sonar around 7 p.m., the sheriff’s department said, and at 7:53 p.m., Barker’s body was pulled from the waters by conservation and county divers.
Barker had been submerged in 37 feet of water, Indiana Conservation officers said.
An autopsy will be performed by the Kosciusko County Coroner’s Office to determine Baker’s exact cause of death.
