A body was pulled from the water at Porter Lake in Pleasant Hill, Missouri, on Saturday, a day after officers had checked on a 74-year-old man reported for erratic driving in the area. Police say the man was evaluated by EMS personnel and released, only for his vehicle to vanish from tracking the next day, setting off a search that ended at the lake's edge.
According to KMBC, the Pleasant Hill Police Department is investigating after a person was found dead at Porter Lake. The department said officers made contact with the 74-year-old man on Friday, October 30, after receiving reports of his erratic driving, and that he was released once EMS personnel evaluated him at the scene.
An OnStar Alert Brings Police Back
The next morning, on Saturday, October 31, Pleasant Hill police received a request from OnStar asking them to help locate the man after his vehicle's signal was lost, per the same KMBC report. Officers patrolled the Porter Lake area around 10:08 a.m. but did not find the man or his car during that first pass.
Just after 12:30 p.m., officers returned to the lake for another search on foot. That second search is when, police say, they located a body floating in the water. Debris on the surface of the lake indicated that a vehicle may have entered the water, according to the department's account relayed by KMBC.
Identity Withheld, Investigation Continues
As reported by FOX4KC, authorities are working to notify next of kin, and the Cass County Sheriff's Office dive team responded to assist with the investigation and recovery. Police have not released the identity of the person found in the lake, with the department saying it is being withheld pending family notification.
Pleasant Hill police describe the investigation as ongoing, and no further details about the recovery effort or the vehicle's status have been released. Porter Lake sits within Porter Park in Pleasant Hill, a small Cass County community southeast of Kansas City.
