Dive Teams Seek Evidence In Lake Zoar

By John Voket

Police dive teams from Trumbull and Fairfield who were working at the request of Newtown Police detectives scoured the bottom of Laze Zoar in an area approximately 100 feet to either side and directly under the steel bridge that links Sandy Hook to Southbury. According to Mike McCarthy, chief of Newtown Underwater Search And Rescue (NUSAR), his team was also on hand in support of what was described as a two-day “evidence recovery exercise.”

Newtown Police Chief Michael Kehoe told The Bee on Wednesday that the divers were seeking “evidence from several crimes still under investigation” by the local department “that we believe may have been dumped into Lake Zoar.”

Chief Kehoe said the evidence was not linked to “anything of dire consequence,” but was rather following up on leads in investigations “going on for awhile.”

The Trumbull Police SCUBA team was being supported by Trumbull’s Long Hill Volunteer EMS. The medical personnel, vehicles, and several Newtown detectives were all working from a boat launch in the yard of Sandy Hook resident Michael Burton, who lives at 107 Glen Road.

During most of the search, two or three boats were in the water, one from Trumbull and two from NUSAR.

Chief McCarthy of NUSAR said at one point a Trumbull Police diver experienced some disorientation and was evaluated by medics before being transported by ambulance to Norwalk Hospital, which has one of the only hyperbaric chambers in the region.

This hyperbaric oxygen facility, among other procedures, can provide lifesaving therapy to underwater divers affected by decompression illness. The LifeStar medical helicopter was initially dispatched to the scene, and was set to land at a ball field adjacent to the Sandy Hook fire station, when it was called off.

Chief McCarthy was later notified the Trumbull diver was treated and released later Tuesday evening.