Search called off for Richard Sweezey, missing Mercer Island boater
Jul 22, 2012, 3:27 PM | Updated: Jul 23, 2012, 7:59 am
Richard Sweezey was last seen at 1 p.m. at the marina by a friend who gave him a life jacket to use while repairing his boat. (Photo courtesy of the King County Sheriff's Office)
(Photo courtesy of the King County Sheriff's Office)
The search for a Mercer Island boater missing since Friday is transitioning to a recovery as authorities prepare to use sonar equipment to
help them locate the man’s body.
“At this point it’s more likely a recovery effort,” says King County Sergeant Cindi West.
Richard Sweezey, 67, was last seen leaving Seattle’s Queen City
Yacht Club on Portage Bay in his yacht on July 20.
The investigation was launched when a Kirkland woman called police at
about 7 p.m. Friday night saying that a boat, later identified as
Sweezey’s, had drifted into the shoreline near the 300 block of Lake Avenue West.
King County Marine Unit Deputies searched the boat, a 48-foot 1965
Chris Craft Roamer, and found it unoccupied.
“When deputies got there they found that nobody was in the boat but
there was a generator inside there that was running, and a tool that was
hooked to it via an extension cord was hanging over the side of the boat
and into the water,” said King County Sheriff’s Sergeant Cindi West.
King County deputies searched the marina and found only his vehicle
there.
A friend at the marina said he loaned Sweezey a life jacket on Friday at
1 p.m. According to the friend, Sweezey was going to take the boat out
on the lake to do repairs.
The life jacket was still on the boat when investigators searched the boat
Friday night.
After searching the area around Portage Bay and Kirkland for more than
24 hours by helicopter and with Coast Guard and Seattle Police Marine
Patrol vessels, their best guess is that Sweezey fell overboard and
drowned.
“We know he was renovating his boat, it didn’t have any rails on it – the
gunwale’s edges were very thin, we know that the wind came up
yesterday and the water was fairly rough,” said Deputy Chris Bedker.
Authorities have since contacted his wife, who said she has been out of
town and that she could not reach her husband by phone since early
Friday despite repeated attempts.
Authorities scaled back the search on Sunday afternoon and plan
to use sonar equipment to look for Sweezey’s body in the lake.
