“Two Police Officers were already here at the beach when the call came in that a boy was was missing in the water,” said Nancy Schunter from DeWitt, Iowa. “I had called them because I saw a dog left in a car for a long time with very little water. Two police cars came and waited for the driver of the car to come back. It was a half an hour. Luckily, they were here when the report came in.”
At approximately 4:25 Thursday afternoon, the police were dispatched to Clear Lake Beach area for two swimmers, two teenage boys, missing. Shortly, it was changed to one of the swimmers being found, but that a second boy was had went under the water and hadn’t been found. “We need a boat out there.” Soon the beach area was filled with many areas of emergency units.
According to Torin Newell, “Two boys raced out to the white buoy, they were on their way back in when the one boy started waving his arms and went under. The boy had heart troubles to begin with, he never came back up.”
Another witness said, “I saw a boy waving his arms, was able to yell “help” once, and then went under. I tried to get to him, but the current was too strong, it kept pushing me back. I couldn’t get to him.”
There were many people out looking for the boy. Besides the law enforcement, there were fishing boats, speed boats, pontoons and ski doos making their way back and forth across the east side of the Lake. The boy who made it back to shore, was riding in the law enforcement boat, offering to help find his new friend. They hadn’t swum that far out, so the boats were close to shore. While they continued their search, the beach, boat ramp and seawall was beginning to fill with onlookers. Some of these people said that the parents weren’t even there, that they didn’t know yet.
The family was there, though. They were huddled together on one side of the boat ramp. The mother was crying, not knowing what to do. People around her were trying to give her support. The waiting went on.
Soon the rescue ceased, along with the hope of finding the boy alive. One family member was overheard asking, “are we in mourning now?” The reply back to her was “Yes.”
Every effort was being made to try and find the boy. They brought out the equipment to drag the bottom of the lake. Soon the divers from the Iowa Underwater Search and Rescue showed up to offer their help.
It was getting later and soon it was going to be getting dark. Chris Kelley explained, “From my personal experience, they’ll stop looking when it gets dark. My dad worked for the Coast Guard for 14 years and they just don’t have the means to continue the rescue after dark.”
The crowd started getting restless and rumors flared up three times that a body had been found. Each time, nothing. Around 8:25, it was confirmed. A body had been found. The Underwater Search and Rescue had found the boy.
The body of sixteen-year-old Jerrad Ramon, from Clear Lake, had been found. His friend was Larry Luna. They took the body to the south side of the lake, to transport him to Mercy Hospital.
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