Late afternoon on April 21, Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputies recovered a body from Wellington Lake. The decedent has been identified as Henry Wendel, the victim of a canoe accident that occurred on the lake on March 22. The canoe was carrying Mr. Wendel and his wife when it overturned, prompting a multi-day, multi-agency search for the 66 year old male. At the time of the accident, Mrs. Wendel was flown to a local hospital with severe hypothermia and has since been released. The search for Mr. Wendel had to be suspended twice due to weather, but was expected to resume as temperatures warmed.
Agencies involved in the search and recovery efforts during the past month included North Fork Fire, West Metro and South Metro dive teams, Search and Rescue Dogs of Colorado and of the United States, and the Colorado Department of Wildlife.