4 bodies found after canoeists go missing on Wisconsin lake

The bodies of two men were pulled from Mill Lake in Walworth County on Sunday.

Two graduates of New Trier High School and two other men also believed to be from the North Shore drowned in a Wisconsin lake in the early hours of Sunday, Jan. 3, according to media reports.

Search crews recovered a third body from a frigid lake in southern Wisconsin on Monday after four IL men went missing from a lake house where they were staying with friends.

The group searched for them and saw footprints leading down to the boathouse and that the canoe was missing, Roberts said.

The apparent drowning victims were only identified by Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources as IL residents between the ages 20 to 23. Their identities were not immediately released.

Searchers have been scouring Mill Lake, about 35 miles southeast of Milwaukee, since four men were reported missing Sunday.

Authorities said no life jackets were found in or around the canoe. “They looked like they were dressed in casual type clothes”.

All the witness statements are lining up with one another, so there’s no concern about foul play being involved, Roberts said.

DNR officials said that alcohol was a factor in the incident.

Friends at the home told investigators that the four had gone outside to smoke around 2:30 a.m. and did not return before the others had gone to bed. The fourth man’s body is still missing.

Witnesses say all four men had been seen drinking with friends before going out on the water.

The search was suspended for the night and resumed early Monday in water about 25 feet deep, Roberts said.

Later in the morning friends noticed that the group had not come back, CBS affiliate WDJT reports.

With water temperatures that cold, hypothermia is always a concern, Roberts noted. There is evidence some of them tried to get up onto an ice shelf in the bay, climbing onto broken ice.

The cold weather and cold water make the search taxing for divers and equipment, Picknell said.