A man was found dead on the Oklahoma side of Lake Texoma on Monday, and Marshall County authorities believe he is the same person who went missing during a chaotic rescue effort near Buncombe Creek three days earlier. Police notified the Oklahoma Medical Examiner's Office and the man's next of kin, though no further information about his identity had been released at the time of publication.
Marshall County Sheriff Donald Yow said an investigation has begun after the man was found dead at Lake Texoma and is believed to be a missing person from a prior boating incident, according to KFOR.com. Police believe the man is possibly connected to a person who went missing during Friday's boating incident near Buncombe Creek. That earlier emergency began around 7:47 p.m. on August 7, when Marshall County communications received a report that a woman had fallen off a boat in the lake, prompting several bystanders to jump in to help her before one man himself went missing in the water, according to an emergency dispatch statement relayed by KTEN News.
A Multi-Agency Search Near Buncombe Creek
The search that followed drew in several layers of law enforcement. The Oklahoma Lake Patrol served as the lead agency, with the Marshall County Sheriff's Office assisting and the Chickasaw Nation Lighthorse Police Department Dive Team also deployed, per the same KTEN account. Buncombe Creek Public Use Area, where the search centered, sits on Lake Texoma's northern shore near Willis and Kingston, home to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers campground and boat ramp that draws heavy recreational traffic on summer weekends.
The scale of that response reflects the sheer size of the reservoir itself. Lake Texoma spans roughly 89,000 surface acres and 580 miles of shoreline across the Oklahoma-Texas border, making it the 12th largest lake managed by the Army Corps of Engineers and a destination for an estimated 6 million visitors a year, according to the agency's Tulsa District. Primary state water-patrol authority over the lake belongs to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol's Marine Enforcement Division, which operates District 2 out of Kingston, per agency jurisdiction records cited by Wikipedia.
A Dangerous Weekend on the Water
The Friday night search unfolded just as one of the lake's busiest weekends of the year was getting underway. Lake Texoma hosted the ninth annual Lake Texoma Throw Down from August 8 through 10, a high-performance powerboat event that drew 108 boats and large crowds across stops in Oklahoma and Texas, according to Powerboat Nation. Hoodline also reported that an 8-year-old boy was hospitalized after nearly drowning near a dock in the lake's Willow Springs area on Saturday, where a bystander performed CPR before the child was airlifted to Dallas.
Fatal incidents on Lake Texoma are not new to Marshall County investigators. In December 2024, two Oklahoma men aged 70 and 73 died when their boat struck a bridge pillar near Alberta Creek, as reported by KOCO-TV at the time. Under Oklahoma law, vessels operating on state waters must carry a Coast Guard-approved personal flotation device for every person aboard, and children 12 and under must wear one while underway on boats under 26 feet, per 63 O.S. § 4206 as detailed by Justia Law; adults are not required to wear their PFDs while swimming.
Open Questions Remain
Authorities have not yet confirmed the identity of the man found Monday, and the Medical Examiner's Office has not released a cause of death. It also remains unknown whether life jackets or alcohol were factors in Friday's incident. Oklahoma law prohibits operating a boat while intoxicated, with first-offense penalties ranging from $100 to $1,000, according to BOATsmart!, though nothing in the current investigation has tied that statute to this case. Marshall County authorities have not indicated when further details might be released.
