The body of an Oakland man was recovered from a lake at the Fremont State Recreation Area near Fremont, NE, Wednesday, April 21, with the help of Ringgold county dive team members.
John Husar, 71, was reported missing Saturday evening April 17 after he had been testing a new outboard motor on his fishing boat. His boat was found unoccupied and circling aimlessly.
The Husar family rushed to the area and were on hand for most of the 64 hours until the body was recovered by the divers.
The search for Husar intensified Sunday morning when members of the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office and Game and Park Commission began dragging the 50 acre lake that is about a half mile long. Cold water was a complication for the searchers.
After these efforts and efforts to find Husar’s body with an underwater camera did not yield results, the Midwest Regional Dive Team, which includes members from Ringgold county along with Adams county, Cass county, Clarinda and Red Oak, were called in.
The divers began work Wednesday morning about 10:30 a.m. and Ringgold county members of the team were the ones who actually discovered the body by 12:45 p.m.
Husar’s body was found in about 18 feet of water at the bottom of the lake by the divers as they worked on the grid system they use to search under the water.
Ringgold county members of the dive team included divers Bob Galloway, Mike Wimer, Ed Rotert and Dave Wolf and line tender Ed McCreary.
Other members of the dive team who did not participate in this particular recovery are divers Nikki Sobotka, Zach Schafer, Scott Derschied and Alex Rotert and line tenders Bill Stull, Tim Creveling, Vera Haley and Daniel Stull.
According to other news reports in the Fremont, NE, Tribune and Omaha, NE World-Herald, it was a relief for the family to get closure after the long search.
The team also performed a successful body recovery last August 9 when a 23-year-old man drowned in Beaver Lake near Plattsmouth, NE.