In June 18 Issue
By Derek Aaron
Times Journal Reporter

An Ohio teenager drowned Saturday morning at Jamestown Marina, according to Russell County Coroner Larry Skaggs.

Johnny Wesley Watkins, 17, of Loveland, Ohio was the victim, Skaggs said. He said Watkins was attempting to tie up a Jon boat and step from the boat to the walkway of the private boat slips around 10 a.m. when he fell into the lake and did not resurface.

Skaggs said preliminary autopsy results show no head trauma and and that the cause of death appears to be "accidental drowning."

Watkins' body was found in around 30 ft. of water below the private slips by an underwater camera system and then retrieved by divers from the Pulaski County Rescue Squad.

The body was pulled from the water around 12:40 p.m. and Watkins was pronounced dead at that time, Skaggs said.

Due to the cables and anchors that keep the slips in place, emergency officials couldn't drag for the body and the divers were called in, he said.

The body was sent to the state medical examiner's office in Frankfort for an autopsy and then taken to Tufts Schildmeyer Funeral Home in Loveland.

Skaggs said the Watkins family regularly frequents the lake each summer. Watkins just completed his junior year at Kings High School in Loveland, according to published reports.

On scene were the divers from the Pulaski County Rescue Squad, Russell County Emergency Management, Russell County EMS, the Russell County Rescue Squad, Fish and Wildlife Water Patrol, the Jamestown Volunteer Fire Department and the Russell County Coroner.