Searchers Fail to Find Lake Castaic Victim

Authorities failed Monday in their second day of searching to locate the body of a man presumed drowned Sunday after he jumped from a rented rowboat into Castaic Lake and disappeared.

The 37-year-old Bell Gardens man, whose name was not released, had been drinking beer with a friend in a rowboat before he jumped into the lake around 5 p.m. Sunday, said Fred Elam, senior lake lifeguard. Sheriff’s officials said the man previously had been seen jumping into the lake and had been warned not to do so again.

The search ended at 6:45 p.m. Sunday and resumed Monday morning with an overflight by a Los Angeles County Fire Department helicopter. Divers from the county’s lake and beach lifeguard teams and from the Sheriff’s Department joined the search, Elam said.

The search was called off at 4:30 p.m. and was expected to resume this morning.

Elam said the search is difficult because authorities are combing a 200-square-yard area of water up to 60 feet deep, where divers must use lights and underwater visibility is no more than two to three feet.