61 year old male recovered at Lake Powell

Press Release:  

Kane County Sheriff’s Office

Sgt. Alan Alldredge

Date: 6/26/2013

Time: 5:00pm

61 Year Old Drowning Victim Located.

On Monday June 24^th at approximately 1:00 pm, 61 year old Joe Coffield from Snellville, Georgia and his wife were in a rental boat near buoy #12 at the entrance to Warm Creek Bay on Lake Powell.  Mrs. Coffield was in the water with a life jacket on and began to drift away from the boat.  Mr. Coffield went in to try and help his wife when he disappeared and was presumed drowned.  On Wednesday June 26, dive crews working together from the National Park Service, Utah Department of Public Safety, and The Summit County Sheriff’s Office were able to locate and recover Mr. Coffield ‘s body about 11:00 am.  He was transferred to the Kane County Medical Investigator for further investigation.  Search efforts on the lake were supported by personnel from Utah State Parks, and the US Coast Guard Auxiliary.

Mr. Coffield was the 4^th boating related death in a 5 day period in Kane County’s portion of Lake Powell.  The Kane County Sheriff’s Office would again remind everyone to wear life jackets and be aware of your surroundings while boating on Lake Powell.

Jessica Jackman located 6/25/13

News Release #6:

Sgt. Alan Alldredge

Kane County Sheriff’s Office

6/25/2013

2:15 pm

Lake Powell Boating Accident

At approximately 11:40 am Tuesday, the body of Jessica Jackman was located and retrieved.  She was found in about 350 feet of water in the same general area as the debris from the boat and about 23 feet from where Valerie Bradshaw was located.  Yesterday, help was requested from Summit County Sheriff’s Office’s dive team.  They have a robotic unit similar to Lake Powell dive team’s robot that is waiting on repairs.  They arrived early this morning and after a 7 am briefing, they were enroute to the accident site.  In a joint effort between the UHP dive team, Summit County Search and Rescue, and the Lake Powell dive team, Jessica was located fairly quickly today.  She will be transferred to the Kane County Medical Examiner who will continue the investigation.

For those who may not have heard, there was another drowning incident at Lake Powell yesterday about 1:00 pm near the entrance to Warm Creek Bay at buoy #12.  The 61 year old male is still missing.  Crews will now be able to concentrate their efforts on that search.

Body of Valerie Bradshaw located

News Release #5:

Sgt. Alan Alldredge

Kane County Sheriff’s Office

6/23/2013

9:15 pm

Lake Powell Boating Accident

At approximately 7:12 pm Sunday night, the UHP dive team located the body of Valerie Bradshaw in about 340 feet of water.  The Lake Powell dive team was able to retrieve her body with their robot and it is being transported to Wahweep Marina where it will be transferred to the Kane County Sheriff’s Office’s medical investigator.  Valerie’s body will be cared for by Mosdell Mortuary from Kanab.

Because it was so late by the time Valerie was recovered, search efforts were suspended for the night.  The dive team will begin searching in the same area in the morning in hopes of locating Jessica in the same area. 

Lake Powell Update #4 6-22-13

News Release #4:

Sgt. Alan Alldredge

Kane County Sheriff’s Office

6/22/2013

2:45pm

Lake Powell Boating Accident

At approximately 9:00 am this morning, the Utah Department of Public Safety dive team left the dock at Wahweep Marina to begin searching the accident scene area.  At this time they have been searching a little more than two hours.  The state team uses “Side Scan Sonar” technology.  They will continue searching in the area looking for possible “targets” that could be a body.  Once a target is located, it will provide a GPS coordinate of the target which can then be used for further investigation.

The National Park Service’s robot suffered some malfunctions Friday.  Their submersible robot has sonar capability, as well as a camera, lights, and a mechanical arm.  The sonar capability is what is not working at this time.  They are waiting on parts or a loaner robot, which should arrive on Monday, while theirs is being repaired.  

If the state team is able to locate a viable target, the Park service team can still use their current robot with its camera and mechanical arm to investigate the target, and/or retrieve a body.

Officials from Utah State Parks will be handling the crash investigation.  The damaged power boat will be moved to the Wahweep marina area where it will removed from the water for further investigation.  The investigation will take place the first part of next week.

Right now it is a very slow process, waiting for the searchers to locate possible targets.  As soon as there is any news, I will immediately post it.

Lake Powell Accident Press Release with Names and Pictures

News Release #3:

Sgt. Alan Alldredge

Kane County Sheriff’s Office

6/21/2013

12:15pm

Lake Powell Boating Accident

At approximately 9:15 am Utah Time on Thursday June 20, 2013, National Park Service Dispatch, located at Wahweep Marina on Lake Powell, received a report by marine band radio about a boat accident at buoy 43 near Dangling Rope Marina.   A north bound motor boat headed to Rainbow Bridge carrying 13 passengers, 7 adults and 6 children had collided with a south bound house boat and overturned.  Fifty Seven year old Marilyn Jackman from South Jordan Utah was killed in the accident.  Two additional females, 22 year old Jessica Jackman, daughter of Marilyn Jackman, and 29 year old Valerie Rae Bradshaw of Sandy Utah are still missing.  Other individuals on the boat received minor injuries.  The driver, 59 year old Adrian Jackman, husband of Marilyn Jackman, and his 11 year old grand-daughter were flown to the Flagstaff Arizona Hospital with non life threatening injuries.   A third person was transported by boat and then by ambulance to the Page Arizona hospital.  All three individuals were released from the hospital the same day.   The remaining individuals were transported back to Wahweep Marina by boat.  All of the children on board were wearing life jackets.  It appears the driver of the boat may have been temporarily distracted by the movement of some of the children in the boat and did not see the houseboat in time.  He tried to turn to miss the house boat, but collided with the front corner of the houseboat causing the motor boat to overturn.  No one on the houseboat was injured.  Most of the individuals in the boat were family members.  They are from the Salt Lake/Northern Utah area. 

The National Park Service at Lake Powell has a very skilled and well trained dive team who worked throughout the afternoon and early evening to try and find the missing individuals.  They will return to the area Friday morning to continue searching.  Because the water at the crash site is about 400 feet deep, the NPS team will be using a robot with a camera to search with.  The Utah Department of Public Safety dive team has been requested and should arrive Friday night or Saturday Morning.  They will be using their side scan sonar to search the crash area to try and find the missing individuals.   

Officials from National Park Service, Utah State Parks, and Kane County Sheriff’s Office will continue working together on the investigation of the incident, and location of the missing individuals.

As we enter the busy summer season at the lake, we encourage everyone to be extremely cautious of other traffic and to always wear life jackets.

With the release of the family’s names, we would ask everyone to please honor their privacy as they endure this ongoing ordeal.

Valerie Bradshaw

Jessica Jackman

Lake Powell Accident 6-20-13-Releae #2

News Release #2:

Sgt. Alan Alldredge

Kane County Sheriff’s Office

6/21/2013

6:00 am

Lake Powell Boating Accident

At approximately 8:15 am, (Arizona Time), on Thursday June 20, 2013, National Park Service Dispatch, located at Wahweep Marina on Lake Powell received a report by marine band radio about a boat accident at buoy 43 near Dangling Rope Marina.   A motor boat carrying 13 passengers, 7 adults and 6 children, had collided with a house boat and overturned.  One 57 year old Female on the motor boat is confirmed deceased, and two additional females, ages 22 and 29, are missing in the water.  Other individuals on the boat received minor injuries.  The male driver and an 11 year old female were flown to the Flagstaff Arizona Hospital by a medical helicopter with non life threatening injuries.   A third person was transported by boat and then by ambulance to the Page Arizona hospital.   The remaining individuals were transported back to Wahweep Marina by boat.  All of the children were wearing life jackets.  It appears the driver of the boat may have been temporarily distracted by the movement of some of the children in the boat and did not see the houseboat in time.  He tried to turn to miss the house boat, but collided with the front corner of the houseboat causing the motor boat to overturn.  No one on the houseboat was injured.  Most of the individuals in the boat were family members.  They are from the Salt Lake/Northern Utah area.  The family has asked not to release names of the deceased and missing individuals until family members have been properly notified.

The National Park Service at Lake Powell has a very skilled and well trained dive team who worked throughout the afternoon and early evening to try and find the missing individuals.  They will return to the area Friday morning to continue searching.  The water is about 400 feet deep at the crash site.  They also have some remote camera and sonar equipment which will allow them to search that deep.

Officials from National Park Service, Utah State Parks, and Kane County Sheriff’s Office will continue working together on the investigation of the incident, and location of the missing individuals.

As we enter the busy summer season at the lake, we encourage everyone to be extremely cautious of other traffic and to always wear life jackets.

Lake Powell Accident 6-20-13

News Release:

Sgt. Alan Alldredge
Kane County Sheriff’s Office

6/20/2013

3:45 pm

Lake Powell Boating Accident

At approximately 8:15 am on Thursday June 20, 2013, National Park Service Dispatch, located at Wahweep Marina on Lake Powell received a report by marine band radio about a boat accident at buoy 43 near Dangling Rope Marina.   The accident involved a motor boat and a houseboat.  One Female individual on the motor boat is confirmed deceased, and two additional females are missing in the water.  Other individuals on the boat were injured.  At least one individual was flown out by a medical helicopter.   The remaining individuals are being transported back to Wahweep Marina.

Because of the remote area of the accident, and the lack of good communication, details are still coming in.  Names are not available at this time until notification is made to family members.

Officials from National Park Service, Utah State Parks, and Kane County Sheriff’s Office are working together on the investigation of the incident, and location of the missing individuals.