BOX ELDER COUNTY, Utah — The body of a Layton man was recovered from Willard Bay State Park Saturday night following an hours-long search.
Utah State Parks officials announced Sunday that the body of 38-year-old Andre Leon Debose from Layton was recovered from the bay around 11:15 p.m. Saturday night.
The search began around 4:20 p.m. Debose had been boating and swimming with his 17-year-old son and others when a storm hit near Eagle Beach, located on the northwest side of the bay.
Another swimmer, a 19-year-old woman, had begun to struggle in the water. This prompted Debose's son to jump into the water to assist, helping to bring her aboard safely.
Before he could re-board, he himself began to struggle, prompting Debose to jump in to help his son. Witnesses told park officials that the two were holding onto one life jacket. While the son was able to make it back, Debose went under the water and did not come back up.
The son was checked and cleared by emergency medical staff. Meanwhile, park rangers, the Utah Division of Outdoor Recreation's underwater drone, as well as search-and-rescue teams from both Box Elder and Weber counties searched the bay for several hours before finally recovering Debose's body.
"First instinct is to jump in and help, but oftentimes situations can potentially get worse from it," said Devan Chavez, the associate director of Utah State Parks. "Sometimes they don't, sometimes they could, so 'reach, throw, row, go' is the safety message that we try to teach."
Daniela Vargas regularly visits Willard Bay, but Saturday night was different than her other visits.
"I was really like, 'Oh my gosh, look at the helicopter — someone is in trouble.' It was terrible," she said.
Vargas used the tragic incident as a reminder to her friends and family to be safe and be prepared while they recreate — especially on water.
"I just said to my group, 'Oh, we need to stay safe and please use the life jacket,' because everytime we are thinking about joy and having fun, but we need to be careful."
This marks the second drowning at Willard Bay State Park within the span of a week, following another drowning incident that took the life of a 51-year-old Weber County man.
