Swimmer who couldn’t reach life jacket found dead 124 feet under, Texas sheriff says

Five days after a swimmer was reported missing at a Texas lake, officials say her body was found 124 feet under.

The Travis County Sheriff’s Office was called to Lake Travis near Hurst Creek at 4:36 p.m. on Sept. 6, Labor Day, according to a Monday news release. When they responded, witnesses reported that two couples with experience boating rented a sailboat.

While boating, a woman entered the lake to go swimming, witnesses reported, according to the sheriff’s office.

“She began to struggle in the water and was not able to reach a life jacket that was nearby, tethered to the boat,” the sheriff’s office said in the news release

One of the men in the sail boat jumped into the lake after her, officials said, but he was unable to rescue her before she went under water.

When the sheriff’s office was unable to locate and rescue the missing swimmer, they then began searching to recover her body. The recovery effort included shoreline, surface and drone searches, and different types of sonar and a remotely-operated underwater camera.

On Sept. 11, five days after the woman went missing, her body was found by the underwater camera. She was recovered from 124 feet deep, the sheriff’s office said.

The sheriff’s office ordered an autopsy and final results have not been released. The woman’s name was not released “out of respect for the family involved, and because this is not a criminal incident.”

So far this year, 10 swimmers at Lake Travis have been reported missing, according to the news release. The search still continues for a man who went missing on Aug. 7 between Starnes Island and North Shore, where the lake is over 120 feet deep.

Earlier this month, when a husband and wife’s bodies were recovered from Lake Travis, the sheriff’s office said there has been a common factor in five bodies recovered from the lake as of Aug. 12.

“The decedents were not wearing a life jacket,” the release states. “TCSO implores patrons of Lake Travis to be safety conscious and wear life jackets when boating or getting into the water.”

Lake Travis is about 20 miles northwest of Austin.