After three days of searching, the body of a kayaker who flipped at Vallecito Reservoir was recovered on Tuesday and identified as 21-year-old Gary Nolette from Kansas.
About 5 p.m. Tuesday, dive teams recovered Nolette’s body on the northern side of the lake.
According to La Plata County Coroner Jann Smith, the body was found submerged 80 to 83 feet at the bottom of the reservoir.
The Upper Pine River Fire Protection District, La Plata County Search and Rescue and Flight For Life responded to the call at 4 p.m. Saturday.
Nearby boaters were able to rescue the other passenger, 23-year-old Brent Telk, but Nolette, who was not wearing a life jacket, had submerged underwater.
After 80 minutes on Saturday, the mission changed from rescue to recovery.
Smith said Telk attempted to grab Nolette’s hand when they both fell into the water but was unable to keep it in his grasp. She said it is likely Nolette died shortly after entering the water and that drowning is expected to be the cause of death. An autopsy was scheduled for Thursday.
A marine recovery evidence team comprised of divers from the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office, Southwest Regional Dive Team, Upper Pine Fire District and Lewis-Arriola Fire Protection took part in the recovery mission. CPW utilized ROV sonar devices and a towfish attached to a boat to locate the body at the bottom of the lake. The boat drives at 3 mph in search of human-sized objects.
“We'll find all sorts of various large objects in some of these reservoirs (using this technology), but it was successfully able to locate and recover the victim yesterday (Tuesday),” said CPW spokesman John Livingston.
Smith said the search likely took as long as it did because of how far down the body sunk. Livingston added that the lake’s surface temperature was at 58 degrees and colder the deeper into the water the victim went.
“Our lakes and reservoirs in Colorado remain pretty cold even in the warmer summer months,” he said. “When water is that cold paired with not wearing a life jacket, it can be a dangerous situation.”
The two passengers had just moved to Durango about two weeks before the accident, Smith said.
tbrown@durangoherald.com
An earlier version of this story erred in reporting that Colorado Parks and Wildlife dive teams made the recovery of the victim’s body. The body was recovered by dive teams from multiple agencies affiliated with the recovery mission including La Plata County Sheriff’s Office, Upper Pine Fire District, Southwest Regional Dive Team, Lewis-Arriola Fire Protection and Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
