UPDATE 5/31/2022 — The St.Tammany Parish Coroners identified the man whose body was recovered in Lake Ponchartarian Monday evening. According to St. Tammany Parish Coroner Dr. Charles Preston, the man was identified as 33-year-old Kevin Childs of Bell Gardens, California.
MANDEVILLE, La. (WGNO) — Response teams have recovered the body of a 32-year-old man from Lake Pontchartrain, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office announced Monday evening.
The man’s body was located just east of the Causeway Bridge around 7:00. His identity is being withheld while the parish coroner determines a cause of death.
The search for the man began just before 3:30 p.m. when the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office began detectives learned of a boat that had capsized in the water near Fontainebleau State Park.
An investigation revealed a 31-foot twin motorboat was carrying six adults when a nearby boater said the structure flipped and began to sink.
Five people were rescued by other boaters prior to deputies arriving, however, an unidentified 32-year-old was unaccounted for.
Deputies, along with teams from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and the U.S Coast Guard, continued to search the lake for the missing boater near the Mandeville area into Monday evening until his body was recovered around 7 p.m.
According to police, the man was not wearing a life jacket at the time of the accident.
WGNO will continue to make updates to come as more information becomes available. Check back to WGNO.com for the latest.
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