BALDWIN LAKE, Mich. -- A 59-year-old Middlebury man drowned in the water near his fishing boat on Baldwin Lake Saturday afternoon.
Cass County Sheriff's deputies on the scene in Porter Township reported that Larry Bontrager was taken to Elkhart General Hospital after being found floating unconscious in the water near his boat at 3:15 p.m. He was pronounced dead at the hospital. He wasn't wearing a life preserver.
The sheriff's office reports that Bontrager had left his lake cottage to go fishing at 11:30 a.m., but hadn't returned home as expected in the afternoon.
The sheriff's deputies were assisted at the scene by Porter Township ambulance and fire department and the Michigan State Police. Elkhart County coroner John White is assisting with the ongoing investigation of the incident.
Truth Staff