Body pulled from lake near Juanita Beach
By MATT PHELPS
Kirkland Reporter Staff Writer
Jun 05 2009
Police pulled a body from Lake Washington just after noon Friday at Juanita Beach. Officials believe it is a man that went missing the night before.
That man is believed to be in his 50s and left Ivar’s Restuarant on Lake Union with a friend at about 10:30 p.m. on a 16-foot runabout Thursday. They headed to the east side of Lake Washington. Sometime during the trip the boat ran out of gas and drifted north of the 520 bridge.
The missing man got into the water but the wind pushed the boat away. The man could not swim fast enough to get back to the boat. The other man, 49, who was driving the boat, got into the water with a seat cushion trying to help his friend and the boat drifted away from him as well. The 49-year-old man with the seat cushion could not reach his friend and lost sight of him.
The man with the seat cushion swam approximately 90 minutes until he reached Kirkland shore at about 12:35 a.m. and called police.
The Kirkland Police notified the King County Sheriff’s Office and a search was started for the missing man. The boat was found an hour later just north of Juanita Park and no trace of the man had been found until the following afternoon. As of Reporter’s deadline, the King County Medical Examiner’s office had not released the man’s autopsy results.
Kirkland Reporter Staff Writer Matt Phelps can be reached at mphelps@kirklandreporter.com or 425-822-9166 ext. 5052.So keep your comments:
- Civil
- Smart
- On-topic
- Free of profanity
We ask that all participants own their words by registering for an account. It's a simple process that will take seconds and helps keep our comments free of trolls, cranks, and drive-by commenters.
As a community site, we ask that the community help by using the "Flag" button on each comment if they feel the comment has violated the rules. You can also use the up and down arrows on each comment to voice your opinion about that particular comment.
Want to tell us something but you don't want it to be public? Talk to us privately.
