Coast Guard suspends search for 74-year-old man overboard near Grosse Pointe Farms

The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended its search for a 74-year-old man who went overboard from a boat in Lake St. Clair on the night of Sept. 5. The overnight operation covered 89 nautical square miles of water near Grosse Pointe Farms.

St. Clair Shores dispatch notified the Coast Guard at about 7:07 p.m. that two people were aboard an approximately 58-foot boat when the man fell into the lake, said Lt. j.g. Samuel Rodriguez, public affairs officer for U.S. Coast Guard Sector Detroit. The circumstances that led to him falling overboard were not immediately known.

Coast Guard crews launched a search that continued through the night in the waters south of Grosse Pointe Farms. The response included a helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Detroit, a vessel from the Coast Guard station on Belle Isle and a Coast Guard auxiliary boat, Rodriguez said. Once daylight broke, crews conducted an additional search before standing down.

"We spent the night searching for the gentleman, and then we conducted a first light search as well," Rodriguez said.

The Coast Guard suspended its active search at about 8:45 a.m. on Sept. 6, pending any new information that could help crews narrow their focus. Rodriguez said the search effort drew on local, state and federal agencies and covered the full stretch of water where the man was believed to have gone in.

"They saturated the area with all available resources, partnering with local, state and federal agencies, and exhausted every possible means to locate the gentleman," Rodriguez said. "That's why the active search is currently suspended, pending any new information. If we receive new information, our teams will immediately resume the search."

It was not clear as of Sunday whether other agencies were continuing to search the water on their own. The Wayne County Sheriff's Office Marine Division and the Grosse Pointe Shores Department of Public Safety did not respond to requests for comment. Rodriguez said he could not confirm the man's hometown, and his identity has not been released.

Lake St. Clair separates Michigan from Ontario and connects the Detroit and St. Clair rivers, part of the Great Lakes shipping route. The lake draws heavy boat traffic from the Grosse Pointes and Macomb County shoreline communities through the late summer months, with large vessels and smaller pleasure craft on the water especially on weekends.

Rodriguez said the Coast Guard's decision to suspend the search does not close the case. Crews stop actively deploying boats and aircraft once they determine further searching is unlikely to change the outcome, he said, but the Coast Guard will keep taking tips and will send crews back out if someone reports a new sighting or other information.