Authorities investigating after body found at Lake Shawnee

A fisherman who was walking late Tuesday morning along the northwest bank of Lake Shawnee noticed an object in the water that he believed might be a body.

The man called 911, and emergency responders confirmed his suspicion.

About an hour after the discovery, Shawnee County Sheriff Herman Jones said the body was that of a white man who was fully clothed.

Jones said the body was recovered by the Shawnee Heights Fire District dive team “less than 50 yards away” from the shore, “pretty close to the bank.”

The dead man wasn’t immediately identified, and there was no immediate indication of his cause of death. That determination will be made by the Shawnee County Coroner’s Office, where the body was taken after its removal from the lake.

The initial report was received at 11:22 a.m., indicating the body was in the lake just east of the 3100 block of S.E. West Edge Road, about a quarter-mile south of the Lake Shawnee Dam.

Jones said the man’s body was partly submerged, with only the lower portion of the man’s body visible above water. It wasn’t yet known how long the body might have been in the water.

Sheriff’s deputies canvassed the area along the west side of the lake and found items including a hat, sunflower seeds and a water bottle — “just personal items,” Jones said — but it wasn’t known whether any might have belonged to the man whose body was found.

Crime scene tape surrounded the area, and a popular concrete walking trail was blocked off near where the body was found.

The sheriff’s office will lead the investigation. If the coroner rules that the death was a drowning, the investigation will be turned over to the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism.

Anyone who may have information is asked to call the sheriff’s office at (785) 251-2200.

Video interview with Jones: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjjiEpxhEu8.

Video from the scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=336caCmsUzI.