One man rescued, another lost in cold lake

Authorities who rescued a Town of Port Washington man found clinging to his capsized boat in cold Lake Michigan Sunday continued this week to search for the body of his friend, who is presumed drowned. 

Terry Strutz, 68, who was hypothermic and essentially unresponsive when rescuers found him about eight miles east-southeast of Port, was taken by the Port Washington Fire Department boat to shore, then by ambulance to Aurora Medical Center in Grafton before being flown to Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa, according to authorities. 

His friend and the only other person on the 24-foot fishing boat, Jeffrey Stenz, 58, of Theresa, has not been found. 

Strutz may have an emergency call made by his friend to thank for his life. 

Stenz called 911 at 5:08 p.m., and before his cell phone stopped transmitting, authorities were able to obtain the coordinates of its position. The Ozaukee County Rescue Boat, fire department boat and a Coast Guard vessel from Milwaukee converged on the overturned boat. 

Swimmers from the county boat helped load Strutz onto the fire department boat, which then sped to shore. 

But with no signs of anyone else, rescuers did not know if other people were on the boat before it capsized. 

“He (Strutz) was unresponsive when the guys got to him,” Port Washington Fire Chief Mark Mitchell said. “He became more responsive as he warmed up, but he could never give our guys a straight answer about whether there was anyone else on the boat.”

Lt. DeMaine Milbach of the Sheriff’s Office said it wasn’t until the following day that Strutz could confirm that Stenz was on the boat, but based on vehicles in the marina parking lot and Facebook posts suggesting the two men had fished together on Saturday and were planning to do the same on Sunday, authorities suspected a person was missing and searched throughout the night Sunday and into Monday morning for Stenz.

In fact, after getting Strutz to shore, the fire boat returned to the overturned fishing boat with divers who opened a submerged hatch to check if anyone was trapped inside the vessel, Mitchell said.

The Ozaukee County Rescue Boat towed the fishing boat to shore where it was righted by a tow truck from Lanser Towing of Belgium. 

The county boat searched the shoreline Monday but found no signs of Stenz.

Milbach said authorities believe 3 to 4-foot waves contributed to the capsize of the boat. The water temperature was 50 degrees.

Although there were life jackets aboard the boat, neither man was wearing one, he said.