Sonar finds long-dead victims on Utah lake bottom

Associated Press via CNN ^ | November 23, 2006 | AP STAFF

[Enchante]

STRAWBERRY RESERVOIR, Utah (AP) -- For more than a decade, the remains of several boaters have been hidden in the dark, cold depths of this 26-square-mile lake high in the Uinta National Forest.

Then, in a span of just two weeks, Strawberry Reservoir gave up six of its dead during a search for a couple whose boat capsized November 8.

What loosened the reservoir's grip on the dead was sonar, which transmits high-frequency waves through water and registers vibrations that bounce off an object.

Search and rescue crews in the past dragged the lake for bodies with a triangular sheet of metal that had hooks on it, said Lt. Jeff Winterton of the Wasatch County sheriff's office in central Utah.

But when Steven Roundy, 28, and his wife, Catheryn, 23, disappeared from their overturned aluminum fishing boat, authorities were able to search for the bodies with recently acquired sonar equipment.

Freezing water temperatures, 90-foot depths and an elevation of more than 7,600 feet made it too dangerous to send divers to look for the couple.

Rescuers thought they had located one of the Roundys on November 11 when the first blip appeared on the sonar screen. But video from the lake bottom indicated otherwise.

[Enchante]

Sad tale of difficulties finding missing boaters near the Uinta Mtns. here in northern Utah - and now the bodies that ARE being found with new sonar equipment are from other accidents in years past..... all terribly sad, but maybe there is finally some closure for some.

[happinesswithoutpeace]

For later.

[Lokibob]

I read "Utah lake" and thought hmmmm, they are searching Utah Lake, but stupid me, they are searching a lake in Utah named "Strawberry", and it isn't even a lake, it is a reservoir.

Utah Lake has many unfound bodies, too.

[capt. norm]

Here in the Florida Panhandle there is a difficulty with saltwater body searches. Between the crabs and numerous other scavengers, you can pretty much give up the search after 36 - 48 hours depending on the time of year (the cold-blooded scavengers work faster in warm weather).

There are places in St. Andrew Bay where you would swear a lot of tiny fish are tasting you while you are wading and still very much alive....but they don't hurt anything....they just tickle.

[Unmarked Package]

I'm saddened to hear that Strawberry Reservoir has claimed so many lives in recent years. I have very fond memories of that beautiful area when I was a young man attending college. My parents had a summer home, that I helped them build, in the mountains at an elevation of 7800 ft. near Soldier Creek Dam just seven miles downstream of Strawberry Dam. We drove past Strawberry Reservoir dozens of times on our way to the work site, but never went boating on the lake.

[vetvetdoug]

I assisted in retrieving two pilots that died when their jet crashed in Mobile Bay in 1975. Their bodies had been in the bay less than 12 hours and the crabs had already stripped the skin and flesh from all of the exposed tissue. Pretty gruesome.

[Chickensoup]

This is as hard as the first time," Tom Lloyd, Austin's father, told the Deseret Morning News. "It's heartache. Pure heartache."

What is wrong with us? these people had closure. We are re-picking their scars. Let the dead lie in their waters.