Dive team unable to find Lake Billy Chinook drowning victim

Jefferson County sheriff working to bring in side-scan sonar boat

CULVER, Ore. (KTVZ) -- A dive team with Deschutes County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue attempted to locate and recover the body of a drowning victim in Lake Billy Chinook on Sunday but was unsuccessful, Jefferson County Sheriff Jim Adkins said.

Richard Bilodeau, 73, of Maple Valley, Washington, was out on a pontoon boat with his wife on the Metolius River Arm of the lake, above Perry South Campground west of Culver, when he went swimming in the cold water Friday afternoon.

Bilodeau apparently became tired and tried to climb back onto the pontoon boat, but slipped back into the water and went under, Adkins said.

The water is about 64 feet in depth in the narrow portion of the river, the sheriff said.

Adkins said he is reaching out to the Klamath County Sheriff's Office for assistance with its side-scan sonar equipment as the recovery effort continues.