A missing person search became a death investigation after the Madison Fire Department’s scuba team recovered a body from Monona Bay Monday.
Dane County Coroner Barry Irmen said in a statement authorities found the body of Mark Sobrilsky, a 40-year-old Madison man confined to a wheelchair because of cerebral palsy, in the bay early Monday morning.
According to a Madison Police report, Sobrilsky’s roommate reported him missing from their residence on Northport Drive on Madison’s northeast side Sunday night around midnight.
Sobrilsky, who used an electric wheelchair for mobility, was last heard from at about 6 p.m. the same night.
Police were able to determine the location of the last use of Sobrilsky’s computer’s AirCard, a device used to connect to wireless Internet.
The AirCard was last used near the 500 block of North Frances Street in downtown Madison, the report added. Police searched the downtown area and explored possible routes Sobrilsky may have taken.
A person walking through Brittingham Park on Monona Bay noticed a wheelchair near the Brittingham Boat House. The passerby knew about the missing person report and alerted authorities.
Soon after, the body was recovered from the water near where the wheelchair was found. The coroner identified the body Monday afternoon.
MPD and the Dane County Coroner’s office are still investigating the death.
There is no reason to believe criminal activity was involved, according to MPD spokesperson Joel DeSpain.
This is the first missing discovery in a Madison area lake since a case in August involving Sarah Carpenter, a 30-year-old Madison woman.
Carpenter had been missing for nearly two months after disappearing June 29 while going swimming in Lake Mendota. Dane County officials recovered Carpenter’s body and identified her as the missing woman after several days of searching.
