November 21, 2024
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Divers find bodies of missing boaters at Long Lake

HARRISON – Divers on Tuesday recovered the bodies of two boaters missing in Long Lake after their 14-foot craft was hit by a cigarette-style speedboat more than twice its size, the Maine Warden Service said.

The victims, a man and a woman, were found in 40-foot-deep water amid debris from the fiberglass boat they were riding in Saturday night on the east side of the lake off Bear Point.

The speedboat’s occupants were thrown into the lake and made it to safety, while their boat ran ashore and came to rest about 100 yards in the woods.

The woman’s body was found shortly after 10 a.m., and the man’s was found in the same area less than two hours later, said Lt. Pat Dorian, head of search and rescue for the warden service. A total of 17 state police and warden service divers took part in the search.

The names of the dead and the two people riding in the 34-foot cigarette boat were being withheld at the request of the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office because the crash remained the focus of a criminal investigation.

The victims have been identified in media reports as Raye Trott, a local musician who often performed at Bray’s Brew Pub in Naples, and a bartender he had recently begun dating.

Dorian confirmed that the bodies recovered were those of the man and woman who were listed as missing and were believed to be in the small, outboard-powered boat.

Their bodies were being taken to the state medical examiner’s office, which will seek to determine the cause of death.

Once the warden service completes its investigation of the crash, the District Attorney’s Office will decide what charges, if any, are warranted.

Investigators have been trying to determine whether the two boats had the required bow and stern lights and were using them at the time of the incident.


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