Body of Lake Wylie drowning victim recovered; woman charged with BUI
Crews recovered the body of a man from Lake Wylie on Thursday, and authorities charged the woman who was operating the boat the man was on with boating under the influence.
The man’s body was recovered at about 10:45 a.m. He was identified by the coroner Thursday evening as Kenneth Varnadore, 52, of Catawba, S.C., according to WBTV, the Observer’s news partner. Autopsy results are pending.
Varnadore went underwater at about 9 p.m. Wednesday along the 16300-16500 blocks of Harbor View Road in southwest Charlotte, near the North Carolina-South Carolina line. Harbor View Road is near Palisades Episcopal School and The Palisades Country Club.
A caller reported that a person went underwater near a power plant and never resurfaced, Medic said on its Twitter account, @Medic911Press.
Earlier Thursday, authorities arrested Cynthia Lynn Averitt, 50, of Rock Hill. She was operating the boat the man was on, according to the S.C. Department of Natural Resources. Averitt was booked in the Moss Justice Center in York, S.C., at about 6 a.m.
The York County Sheriff’s Office dive team and lake patrol assisted officers from the S.C. Department of Natural Resources and the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality in the search.
Charlotte Observer Staff Writer Joe Marusak contributed.
WBTV is a news partner of The Charlotte Observer.
This story was originally published July 7, 2016 at 7:22 AM with the headline "Body of Lake Wylie drowning victim recovered; woman charged with BUI."