Boaters out on Lake Beresford near DeLand came across a grim discovery earlier this week: the body of an adult male floating at the edge of the water. The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office responded after the finding was reported this past Tuesday, and deputies say there were no immediate indications of foul play once they arrived on scene.
According to Orlando-News.com, deputies who responded to the lake spotted a vehicle belonging to the deceased man parked in the nearby Lake Beresford Park lot. The outlet reported that his body showed no visible signs of injury or trauma, and the sheriff’s office has not released his identity or any further details about what led up to his death.
The park where his car was found sits along a 211-acre stretch of county land at 2100 Fatio Road, offering a public kayak launch, a fishing pier, and roughly 12 miles of trails, including a trailhead for the regional Spring-to-Spring Trail, according to Historic DeLand. The same account notes the park connects directly to Blue Spring State Park via a paved multi-use trail, making it a popular stop for paddlers and hikers alike.
A Lake Woven Into West Volusia’s Waterways
Lake Beresford itself stretches roughly two miles and sits within the St. Johns River system in West Volusia County, functioning as a wildlife corridor and a hub for competitive rowing and recreational boating, per Wikivoyage. The lake connects via channels directly into the St. Johns River basin. Its western shoreline is also home to Stetson University’s $6 million Sandra Stetson Aquatic Center, a 10-acre facility built for university rowing programs and the school’s Institute for Water and Environmental Resilience.
The lake and its surrounding park have seen law enforcement activity before. Hoodline previously reported on a teen busted swinging a baby gator at the Stetson aquatic center on the same body of water, and in July 2025 deputies investigated a separate fatal accident on nearby Hontoon Road, when a DeLand woman was killed by a garage trailer door.
Why an Autopsy Is Required Even Without Signs of Foul Play
Because investigators found no visible trauma on the body and no immediate signs of foul play, the case now hinges on a pending autopsy from the medical examiner’s office to determine the man’s exact cause of death. Forensic investigations across Volusia County fall under Florida Medical Examiner District 7, led by Chief Medical Examiner Dr. James Fulcher out of an accredited facility in Daytona Beach, according to the Volusia County government.
Under Florida Statute Section 406.11, the district medical examiner is required to investigate unattended deaths, sudden deaths of people in apparent good health, or deaths under unusual circumstances, and that authority does not require next-of-kin consent, per the CDC’s summary of Florida law. Separately, Florida Statute Section 406.12 legally obligates anyone who discovers a body to report it immediately to law enforcement or the medical examiner, with failure to do so punishable as a first-degree misdemeanor, according to the Florida Legislature’s Online Sunshine statute text.
The Broader Context of Water Deaths
The sheriff’s office is investigating the death despite the absence of early evidence of a crime.
The sheriff’s office continues to investigate the death. For now, the man’s identity, how long he had been in the water, and whether toxicology results will explain his death all remain open questions pending the medical examiner’s findings.
