NEWS
Police respond to report of drowned body
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by Aubre Andrus
Monday, April 11, 2005
The dead body of a 26-year-old Madison man was found on the shore of Lake Monona at Olin-Turville Park, located across John Nolen Drive from the Alliant Energy Center, Thursday night.
The Madison Police Department responded to a call that a body was floating in the lake at approximately 6 p.m., according to a release. At the time, the police officers were only able to identify the man as a white male.
After an autopsy Friday, Lt. Carl Strasburg said the man has been identified as Christian Metz.
“His death is consistent with drowning and foul play has been ruled out,” Strasburg said.
There are a few instances every year when a body washes up on the shore of a Madison lake, Strasburg said, adding the police department follows a long series of steps to complete the death investigations.
Sgt. John Rife of the MPD said drownings in Madison are not common, but they do occur from time to time.
“It’s not something that happens every day; it’s mostly random,” Rife said. “It happens, though.”
A quadriplegic man drowned in Wingra Creek last November. It is unclear exactly what caused the man to fall into the lake, but by the time a citizen saw a wheelchair tipped over near the creek and called 911 to report the incident, the victim had died.
In addition, two boaters on Lake Mendota were reported missing the month before the drowning occurred. A 56-year-old man also disappeared, his boat found unoccupied near Mendota County Park, while the body of 24-year-old Phillip Mumm was found at the end of the month off the shoreline of University Bay.
Mumm drowned Oct. 9 when he jumped into Lake Mendota from his sailboat and his friends were unable to save him when he cried out for help.
After searching for his body for a few days, the Madison Fire Department decided to stop looking and waited until his body surfaced naturally.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources said 19 boating fatalities occurred in the state in 2002 and 20 in 2003.
