SALT LAKE CITY — The body of a Colorado man presumed drowned in Lake Powell last fall was recovered Thursday, according to a statement from the Kane County Sheriff's Office.
Daniel Patrick McGuckin, 41, of Avon, was last seen Sept. 22 when he jumped from a houseboat into Lake Powell in an area 15 miles south of Bullfrog — near Iceberg Canyon. McGuckin was with a group of friends traveling from the Escalante arm of the lake to Bullfrog Basin, when his friends said he "seemed to decide to jump off" the side of the boat and was not wearing a life jacket, according a statement from the sheriff's office last year.
Despite searching the area for several days, crews could not find McGuckin's body.
On Thursday, the sheriff's office announced that a couple who specialize in underwater recoveries had located his body.
The break came when the McGuckin family contacted Gene and Sandy Ralston of Idaho, who are experts in underwater search and rescue, according to the sheriff's office.
"The Ralstons are credited with numerous recoveries in their career bringing much needed closure to families across North America," according to a statement from the sheriff's office.
The Ralstons' boat, named Kathy G after a drowning victim recovered in Alaska, is equipped with "wide side scan sonar and an underwater remotely operated vehicle," the sheriff's office stated.
After receiving the GPS coordinates of where the houseboat was when McGuckin disappeared, the Ralstons got their boat in the area and found McGuckin's body "in a matter of minutes," according to the sheriff's office.
"Using the trackline we received from the houseboat driver, we set up a search baseline, but then decided to do a preliminary pass along the trackline. We found the missing man within less than five minutes of scanning in 321 feet of water. Pretty much exactly where the trackline shows the houseboat slowed and turned to port," Gene Ralston posted on his Facebook page.
The Ralstons used their remote device, and with the assistance of the sheriff's office and the Utah Department of Public Safety Dive Team, brought McGuckin's body to the surface.