ERIE, Mich. — According to police, the body of a boater who went missing in Lake Erie over the weekend has been recovered and positively identified.
The Monroe County Sheriff's Office resumed searches in the lake Monday after suspending it Sunday afternoon. While looking for the man, a boater in the area reported he had found a body.
Officers were able to find the body about 500 yards north of where the man had been reported missing.
He was identified as Burl Steele, 47, of Maumee Ohio.
Police said he fell into the water when the boat he was a passenger on struck the wake of another watercraft.
Steele was not wearing a life jacket and never resurfaced.
Morin Point firefighters were dispatched to the scene Saturday evening and officers searched the area with the assistance of the U.S. Coast Guard and the Monroe County Sheriff's Office with no success.
The searches resumed Sunday around 7 a.m. but that were discontinued at around 2 p.m. with the victim still missing.
The incident remains under investigation.
Dale's Bar & Grill in Maumee is honoring Steele's memory with two heartfelt Facebook posts, one saying, "We'll always have a bar seat and cold one waiting for you good friend!"
