By Andrew Gorosko

BROOKFIELD — A Sandy Hook man died on the afternoon of Monday, July 5, in Lake Lillinonah after he disappeared underwater while swimming near a pontoon boat on which he had been a passenger among family and friends.

Deceased is William Donovan, 37, according to Brookfield police.

The results of an autopsy indicate that Mr Donovan’s accidental death was caused by asphyxia due to drowning, a spokesman for the chief state medical examiner said July 7.

At 2:32 pm on July 5, Brookfield police’s communications center received an Emergency 911 call from a resident who lives at 13 Cove Road, adjacent to Barkwood Falls Cove on the western side of Lake Lillinonah. The lake is an impoundment on the Housatonic River. 

The caller reported to police that there was a man in the water who was yelling for help, police said.

“Upon arrival of emergency units, it was learned that the man had been swimming near a boat and [had] gone under the water and could not be located,” police said.

About three dozen emergency services personnel, including, police, fire, and ambulance crews, responded to the scene in a search for Mr Donovan. Those staffers were from Brookfield, Newtown, and Bridgewater, as well as from the state police.

The Brookfield police SCUBA unit, as well as Newtown Underwater Search And Rescue (NUSAR) conducted a two-hour underwater search of the area where Mr Donovan was last seen, police said.

NUSAR Chief Mike McCarthy said that the area which the divers searched covered about one acre of the cove. There is much algae in the lake, he noted, adding that the area is weedy and has about two-feet of visibility. In such conditions, divers use their sense of touch in searches, he said.

Eight NUSAR staffers responded to the incident, he said. NUSAR members put their boat in the water at the state boat launch located off Route 133 in Bridgewater, and then traveled upriver to the search site, he said.

The search for Mr Donovan covered an area measuring about 200 feet by 200 feet, or roughly one acre, Chief McCarthy said. One acre is a large area to search underwater, he noted.

The underwater search was straightforward, he said, noting that the divers had a good “last seen point” on which to base their work.

When the search work was underway, the cove was closed to boat traffic, Chief McCarthy said.

State police were called to the scene for aid in searching the area.

State police brought a boat equipped with a side-scan sonar device and located Mr Donovan’s body approximately 70 feet from shore in water about 8 to 10 feet deep at about 7:20 pm, Brookfield police said.

Mr Donovan’s body was brought to shore, after which it was transported to Danbury Hospital.

Brookfield Police Officer Jason Anderson investigated the incident.

Chief McCarthy said that the search for Mr Donovan involved good teamwork among the many emergency services units involved. “Everybody worked as a team and as a group…Everybody supported everybody else,” he said.