Witnesses said Major did not surface after jumping from a pontoon boat.
07.11.2011 | SOUTHWICK - A member of the Southwick Police Dive Team emerges from Congamond Lakes Middle Pond late Monday afternoon during a search of a 19-year-old Westfield man who disappeared after jumping from a pontoon boat.SOUTHWICK - State and local police dive teams recovered the body of 19-year-old Kevin J. Major, of Westfield, shortly after 10 a.m. Tuesday from Congamond Lakes Middle Pond one hour after resuming a search that began Monday.
Southwick Police Lt. David A. Ricardi said that at about 10:10 a.m. local police dive team members, assisted by divers from state and environmental police, recovered Major’s body from Middle Pond on the Connecticut side of the lakes.
Ricardi said Major had been swimming from a pontoon boat with a group of friends when he disappeared in the water at about 4:30 p.m. Monday.
“One of the individuals on the boat said they saw him go down, come back up, go down again, and he stayed down,” he said.
A full investigation into the death is being conducted by Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit attached to the Hampden County District Attorney’s Office and the Southwick Police Department, Ricardi added.
Congamond Lakes, which had been closed during the search, reopened to the public at noon.
This is the second drowning death at Middle Pond in less than a month. On June 19, 22-year-old Larry Cauley also disappeared in the water after jumping or falling from a pontoon boat at about 12:30 a.m. His body was discovered 36 hours later.
Cauley’s body was discovered 200 feet from shore in about 35 feet of water. Some pockets of water on the lakes are as deep as 50 to 55 feet.
Cauley was a member of the 13-person Hill family, who had a new house built for them by the ABC-TV show "Extreme Home Makeover" in June 2009. The episode featuring the family aired in October of that year.
Prior to these two incidents, the last reported drowning at Congamond Lakes was in August 2000, when an 18-year-old from Brooklyn, N.Y., died in South Pond, the second largest Congamond pond. Before that, a 33-year-old West Suffield, Conn., man died after drowning in Middle Pond in October 1994.
Ricardi described two drownings within a month as a freak thing, especially given that this latest incident occurred on a quiet Monday afternoon when there were not many boaters on the lakes.
“It’s so unusual – we’ve never had two in one month, and I’ve been here for 25 years,” he said.
West Suffield resident Deborah J. Mattern, who had been on the lakes fishing just before the man disappeared and was on the scene during the search, said the lake is safe and a strong swimmer can easily swim from one side to the other.
This is a developing story. Details will be added as they become available.