Perrysburg woman, teenager found dead in Lake Erie; two missing

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TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — The bodies of two of four missing
boaters were recovered in western Lake Erie on Thursday, a day after the
group left for an afternoon of fishing and sent pictures to relatives.
Searchers
found a partially submerged boat on a reef near the Davis-Besse nuclear
power plant and later spotted the bodies of a teenage girl and a woman,
authorities said.
Both of the victims were wearing life jackets.
They were identified as Amy Santus, 33, of Perrysburg, near Toledo, and
Paige Widmer, 16, the Ottawa County sheriff’s office said. A hometown
for Widmer was not available.
Santus and Widmer had been on the
boat with two men, who also were reported missing. The Coast Guard said
Thursday night that it had suspended its search for the remaining two
boaters "pending any new developments."
County Sheriff Steve Levorchick said the boaters had contacted relatives on Wednesday afternoon.
"They did send pictures back to family members of themselves fishing," he said.
U.S.
Coast Guard boats and helicopters along with other rescue crews began
searching the lake about 2 a.m. Thursday after receiving a call about
the group. The boaters were supposed to return from their fishing trip
early Wednesday evening.
The average water temperature within the
search area was about 35 to 40 degrees, the Coast Guard said. How long
people can survive in water that cold depends on their weight, gender
and what they were wearing.
Authorities narrowed the search to an
area about 30 miles east of Toledo after finding the 21-foot-long boat
Thursday morning. Crews had searched a combined more than 200 square
nautical miles of the lake by Thursday evening, the Coast Guard said.
The boaters’ truck and boat trailer were found at a marina where they headed out on the lake.
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