Joseph Lauwers Death – The authorities have confirmed and released the identity of the man who drowned to death on Lake Charlevoix on Monday, August 17 after his boat ran out of gas as 56-year-old Joseph Lauwers.
The authorities reports that Lauwers was on the boat with his girlfriend and her 10-year-old grandson before the boat ran out of gas close to Loeb’s Point off of Evergreen Lane in the city of Charlevoix.
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According to the Coast Guard Chief Marcus Collison, Lauwers put a call through to his friends to bring fuel to them while they went swimming in the lake.
Collision said, “They decided to do some swimming while they were waiting.”
After the swim, Lauwers could not go back into the boat because the boat floated away. He went underwater and never resurfaced.
“The child and Lauwers jumped into the lake for a swim and their boat started to float away. The grandson made it back to the boat and Mr. Lauwers attempted to, but didn’t make it,” says Charlevoix County Sheriff Chuck Vondra.
A search for Lauwers was launched after a 911 call was placed. The Sheriff’s department, the coast guard, local EMS and the Charlevoix dive team worked intensely in the search for Lauwers, says Vondra.
“We had lots of help out there in a very short time to try to save the gentleman,” said Vondra.
The dive team located Lauwers under the water after three hours of search, but he was dead.
Report says he had just moved into the area.
On August 18, an autopsy was done at the McLaren Northern Michigan hospital in Petoskey.
“When the autopsy results come back, it may reveal the cause of the drowning to be a heart attack or whatever it was … or maybe it will reveal nothing. We don’t know now the cause of the drowning,” says Vondra.
The investigation is still ongoing.