Body Of Missing Boater Recovered; Man Identified

MIDDLE RIVER, Md. (WJZ) -- The search for a missing boater in Middle River came to an end Thursday morning after his body was found near Frog Mortar Creek.

Monique Griego reports.

The search lasted several days. Thursday morning, searchers were able to find the missing boater but not before another body was also found.

Late Tuesday afternoon, rescuers combed the water near Frog Mortar Creek after a boater, 57-year-old Sherman Walden, was reported missing.

"They were out there with six boats or so searching for something. Word-of-mouth out there was somebody had drowned out there," said Middle River resident Bob Sabaston.

Department of Natural Resources police said just off Martin State Airport, Walden was boating with three other people when two women jumped into the water without life jackets.

Captain Jerry Kirkwood said one of them wasn't a good swimmer and soon got into trouble.

"So one of the other girls and the victim jumped in to help her so they both ended up getting into trouble and the victim went down," said Kirkwood.

After an intense search on Tuesday, rescuers went back out on the water Wednesday. But that night, things took a strange twist.

Crews near Chester River in Kent County discovered another man's body now identified as David Israel, 61, of Millford, Del.

"We really don't have any information at this point as to how he got into the river. We don't suspect it to be boating. It's just a mystery," said Kirkwood.

Walden's body was finally found Thursday morning not far from where he went under. His death is reminding this tight boating community never to take safety for granted.

"They had five life jackets on board. There were four people. They got in unfamiliar water just over their head," said Kirkwood.

The two women who were in the water with Walden when he went under were rescued by a nearby boat.