RANGELEY — Searchers recovered the bodies Wednesday of two snowmobilers who fell into open water on Rangeley Lake in midwinter.
The dive team used side-scan sonar to find the bodies late in the morning in 60 feet of water, Sgt. Scott Thrasher of the Maine Warden Service dive team said.
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Wardens recovered the bodies of 40-year-old Ken Henderson, of China, and 41-year-old John Spencer, of Litchfield.
The body of a third man, 43-year-old Glenn Henderson, of Sabattus, was recovered Friday.
Thrasher said wardens and relatives identified the bodies by the items of clothing they were wearing.
The two men’s bodies were found about three-quarters of a mile from where Glenn Henderson’s body was found and were recovered by divers about 11:30 a.m., Thrasher said.
The three men are believed to have fallen into the water Dec. 30, 2012, the same night a Yarmouth woman drove her snowmobile onto the partially frozen lake, fell in and did not survive.
Thrasher said the eight dive team members initially searched an area of about 2.5 square miles where they thought it was most likely the missing men’s remains would be located.
Helmets, gloves and, later, snowmobiles had been found in earlier searches of that area.
It also was where searchers found the body of Dawn Newell, 45, of Yarmouth, who went into open water on the lake the night of Dec. 30 while snowmobiling with her 16-year-old son. He managed to jump from his snowmobile onto solid ice before his machine sank.
Dawn Newell’s body was recovered the next day.
After searching unsuccessfully for the three men’s bodies within the original area, Thrasher said Wednesday, wardens found the bodies in a smaller area of 31 acres, or around a half square mile, just outside the original one.
Thrasher said the four and a half month search was the longest search he and the other wardens can remember. He said the large area and extreme winter weather conditions, including freezing temperatures and high winds, were major factors in the extended search.
The search initially was postponed in early January because of cold and high wind on an open section of the lake. The search plans changed when the lake froze, but the effort was delayed again because the ice was too thin to hold the people and equipment needed.
After the ice melted on May 2, the wardens prepared to resume the search and were out on the water on May 7.
Thrasher said the snowmobiles are still in the lake.
Kaitlin Schroeder — 861-9252
kschroeder@mainetoday.com
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