Rock Cut drowning victim identified

Online Staff Report

The name of the victim in a fatal canoe accident at Pierce Lake Tuesday, June, 14, has been released.

Seventeen-year-old Mitchel Krause, of Rockton, was pronounced dead at 5:07 p.m., Tuesday. He was among four teens in a canoe that overturned at 3:30 p.m. yesterday.

Early reports specified the boy, who was not wearing a life jacket, was under water for a few minutes before police were called. After a rescue team from the Loves Park Fire Department pulled Krause from the lake, it was determined he had been in the water for 30 or 40 minutes.

Toxicology test results are still pending following a Wednesday autopsy, authorities said. According to investigators, there was no evidence at the scene that alcohol was involved in Krause’s death.

The three other teens were able to safely swim back to shore without injury.

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