Early Tuesday morning, Dane County officials recovered a body on the shore of Lake Monona.
A passerby found it near John Nolen Drive and North Shore Drive and called it in to authorities around 2:15 a.m.
The discovery occurred on the fourth day of a search effort after investigators found an empty 18-foot red fishing boat on the lake Friday morning. Since the boat had indicated someone was on board, the Dane County Sheriff’s Office was looking for the missing man, whom they believed to be 68-year-old Larnal Friend of Milwaukee.
In a statement sent out Tuesday evening, the Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed the decreased was indeed Friend.
Preliminary results of the autopsy indicated Friend had died as a result of accidental drowning. But additional testing is currently underway.
The Dane County Sheriff’s Office and medical examiner’s office are still investigating Friend’s death.
