Authorities identify body recovered from Lake of the Ozarks
UPDATE: The Missouri State Highway Patrol has identified the body that was recovered from the Lake of the Ozarks Friday.
A dive team found the body of Rick Steffy, 48, of Homer, IL, at 6:14 p.m. Steffy’s boat was also located under water.
ORIGINAL STORY: The Missouri State Highway Patrol drive team is searching for a possible drowning victim off Shawnee Bend Roadat the Lake of the Ozarks Friday evening. Search teams began looking earlier in the area south of Lake Ozark at 11:30 a.m.
A witness called 911 saying they saw a person go underwater with a sinking boat. As of 6:00 p.m. Friday, the Missouri Highway Patrol has three boats in the water searching with sonar equipment.
Sgt. Scott White with the Highway Patrol said the call came in around 11:15 a.m. Friday morning and crews have been searching the area ever since. White says the search area is only a few hundred feet, as they don’t think a body would have moved much underwater. He says a resident tells him the water is about forty feet deep.
“Right now, it’s the end of January,” says Sgt. White, “The temperature of the lake…hovers between 39 and 40 degrees. So when someone goes into the water that cold, it’s almost paralyzing. And it’s difficult to just function. From the information we have right now, the subject was able to get close to a water break, but went under.”
ABC 17 News will continue to bring updates as they become available.
