April 18, 2014 12:02 AM

Search continues for bodies in Lake Erie

By Mark Reiter and Tom Henry / Block News Alliance

OAK HARBOR, Ohio -- The Coast Guard has suspended its search for the two remaining people in the water near South Bass Island in Lake Erie tonight pending any new developments.

On Thursday, authorities released the names of the two victims whose bodies were recovered in Lake Erie following a boating accident in which four people were reported missing.

Amy Santus, 33, of Perrysburg, Ohio, and Paige Widmer, 16, who lives out of state, were identified as the two victims, Ottawa County authorities said.

Their bodies were located several miles off shore.

Dan Cadigan, Ottawa County coroner, said they were wearing life preservers when they were found in the water by the search teams.

Petty Officer Christoper Yaw, of the U.S. Coast Guard in Cleveland, said crews from the Coast Guard and other agencies were continuing the search for the two men who also were on the boat. Their names and ages were not being released.

Though not confirmed by the Coast Guard, Andrew Rose, 33, of Maumee, Ohio, was one of the two missing men who were on the boat, friends told the Block News Alliance.

Mr. Rose was a bartender and an avid outdoorsman.

"He lived to be outside. If he wasn't on the water he was hunting," said Christopher Titus, a close friend.

The boaters were reported missing about 1:30 a.m. Thursday.

Chief Petty Officer Gabriel Settel said a body was pulled from the water about 9:45 a.m. near the area where the partially submerged Tracker Tundra bass boat was found.

More than 200 nautical square miles in the lake had been combed by search and rescue crews by late afternoon, Petty Officer Yaw said.

Block News Alliance consists of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Blade of Toledo, Ohio. Mark Reiter and Tom Henry are reporters for The Blade.


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