IF there is a body at the bottom of the lake near the dam divers are going to be no help. They could only dive to about 40 feet and IIRC the lake was just under 200 ft deep near the dam. It's going to take SONAR and ROV's to recover a body if it is stuck on something at or near the bottom. There is little point to bringing in divers and risking the dangers with what their limits are in that lake. Not unless a body was in shallower water or near the shore.
I believe LE called off the lake search due to the risks to the divers and knowing that if a body were in there it would probably eventually float...as bodies normally do. I think this was the reason for the helicopter fly overs after the lake search.
I think they figure if the family wants to pay a top notch team to come in with SONAR and ROV's then let them. That has got to be extremely expensive.
BBM
1.) A part of the reason they could go no further than 40 ft. down when they were diving was also in regard to the cold temperature of the water. I don't believe that in warmer water they perhaps may not be able to go down further, but then the altitude does play a big factor in regard to the depth and pressure in the water as well.
2.) LE definitely called off the search at that time due to the risks to the divers, and probably the cost as well in regard to amount of time spent searching vs. possible results in light of the obstacles faced (but cost was likely not
the deciding factor).
Another thing people should remember is that in extremely cold water decomposition of a body takes a
lot longer than most people would suspect. In warm water, a drowning victim, or one that was deceased and put into the water sinks, and then as the bacteria multiplies the body swells and floats back up usually within 3-5 days. In cold water the same process can take weeks or months to reach that stage.
This is the reason that Spring brings closure to many cases where a body is thought to have ended up in water. (See the Nick Wilcox case where his body was recovered just recently even though he drowned in the river on Jan. 1st - and this was in the Milwaukee River which is definitely warmer than the lake and the flow is much quicker which would assist in bringing the body to the surface.)
The stumps and debris at the bottom of the Lake make it possible for a body to remain submerged even when the lake warms back up. Also keep in mind that even if a body resurfaces, it will go back under and sink for good if it is not recovered at that time. I think it resurfacing and sinking before no-one notices isn't likely to happen in this particular case. There are a lot of other factors involved when dealing with a body in water, but I won't go into more detail.
I will come back to this post in a minute or two, and give a link if anyone wants to read further on the topic, but I'm not going to quote anything from the link as it's a forensic medical text, and it's written in a very clinical manner, and when considering that this case discussion involves family members of a young boy who is loved very much, I don't want to go even further than I have already on this topic...
ETA: Here is the link I mentioned: Note: this is a .pdf file
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/forensicmedicine/notes/water.pdf
Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Dundee
Lecture Notes
Bodies from Water
Of particular interest would be the "Effects of Immersion" section. There is a link at the top of the document to that specific section so that you don't have to scroll to find that portion. The entire set of lecture notes are worth reading if anyone wishes to understand more about this subject though...
