Smoky Mountain Journal -Family Of Maryland Man Who Went Missing While Swimming In Tellico Lake Offering $5K Reward For Information



The Great Smoky Mountain Journal Tuesday, January 01, 2019 03:01 PM

Family Of Maryland Man Who Went Missing While Swimming In Tellico Lake Offering $5K Reward For Information
A search for a man missing on Tellico Lake since May 15 has now turned into a recovery mission, rather than rescue, with his family now offering a reward for information on the whereabouts of his body or "something of interest." Dispatch said the man went missing swimming in the lake. Officials say the man, Michael Carnock, 55, from Maryland was visiting his parents in Tellico Village when he went for a swim on the morning of May 15 at about 10 a.m. around Jackson Ferry Island. The search for the long-distance swimmer began about three hours later at 1 p.m. According to local media outlets, search efforts covered a large area of water that's as deep as 75 feet in some places. Visibility is typically zero to five feet, so that's why officials said air assistance is so helpful. Officials on Thursday said this rescue mission now has turned into more of a recovery mission. "We're geared more toward recovery right now, unfortunately," Loudon County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Jimmy Davis said. "We're always hopeful that he could be somewhere." The family is offering $5,000 for anyone with any information and indicates that the search area would be the lake's shoreline and the water's surface near Bat Creek to Tellico Village Yacht Club and from the Tellico Village Yacht Club to the Tellico Dam. Anyone with any information is asked to call 911. Officials believe he was wearing an orange swim cap and he was a very experienced swimmer. Search efforts continued from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. that Wednesday before they were suspended for the evening. The search resumed Thursday morning. The Blount County Sheriff's Office's dive team that specializes in under water caves was on hand, as well as a helicopter from the Air National Guard, a cadaver dog, and several other agencies. Carnock's wife and three sons traveled from Maryland to Tellico Plains Wednesday evening, along with some family friends. On May 30, the Loudon County Sheriff's Office reported that the search effort was still in effect on their end. Five vessels were deployed today at the target areas with a K9 and handler team for D.C. Fire that specializes in cadaver searches. They said more personnel will be arriving this evening and tomorrow and plan to continue the search into the weekend. In the meantime, officials warned that swimmers in the area use caution when entering the water. "It's good to make sure you probably have somebody with you because once you go too far under, there's no visibility hardly at all, once you go under the surface," Chief Deputy Jimmy Davis said. Tellico Lake exists as more than 15,000 acres of water surrounded by 357 miles of shoreline.