Tragedy strikes at quiet lake community
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By Jeff Snyder
ELLSTON, Iowa — In what is normally a quiet and private corner in the northeast part of Ringgold County, became a spot that was hit with tragedy last Saturday.
According to a press release from the Ringgold County Sheriff’s Office, personnel were dispatched to Sun Valley Lake, near Ellston on Saturday morning at approximately 10:50 a.m. following a report of a missing male subject. Search efforts continued throughout much of Saturday with assistance from numerous agencies.
On Sunday morning at 11:20 a.m. a West Des Moines man identified as Ronald Brown was located deceased in the lake by members of the Midwest Regional Dive Team.
Mount Ayr Fire Chief Ed Rotert, who is also in charge of the local chapter of the Midwest Regional Dive Team, explained that when originally called in to help with the search they only had one lead to go by.
“One of the neighbors on the lake property appeared to show a man standing at the end of a dock early in the morning on their ring doorbell camera,” Rotert said.
He went on to explain that they were unable to positively identify the person in the video due to poor weather conditions, but it did give them a place to start. Members of several surrounding rescue teams participated in the underwater search for much of Saturday afternoon.
An extensive ground search was also conducted before the water rescue teams were called in, according to Ringgold County Emergency Management Director Melissa Stark.
Initial attempts to locate the missing man were unsuccessful. However, crews returned the following day and resumed their search. The dive teams use a sophisticated side scan sonar in an attempt to locate a potentially submerged victim.
Rotert indicated that one of the local search teams from Clarinda identified a potential subject during one of their sweeps of the area. Rotert had them mark the area with a floating buoy and then ordered the deployment of a special piece of equipment the members of the Midwest Regional Dive Team designed and built themselves.
This equipment consists of a large circular weighted anchor of sorts capped by a shaft that has a rotating sleeve at its top enabling divers to keep track of the search area they have already covered. The search method consists of a knotted rope that has knots spaced in five foot increments enabling divers to follow a circular pattern whereby they can systematically search the area identified by sonar. Concentric circles are made five feet at a time as indicated by the ropes knots. Visibility is these conditions can often times be zero and these search methods and tools nearly eliminate missing any underwater terrain that is critical in underwater recovery attempts.
Brown was found a mere 20 feet from the end of the dock where the original search was conducted. According to Rotert, water in this area drops off steeply just off the shore line which may explain why sonar was unable to identify the victim on Saturday’s initial search. Rotert said it was believed that Brown was a capable swimmer per sources on scene.
Assisting in the investigation were the Ringgold County Sheriff’s Department, Ringgold County Emergency Management, the Midwest Regional Dive Team, Iowa State Patrol, Ringgold County Hospital, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Sun Valley Lake Patrol, Mount Ayr Fire Department, along with support from the Mount Ayr Embers.
As of press time, no further details have been released and the investigation is ongoing. Brown’s family have requested privacy during this period.
