PLEASANT HILL, MO — Pleasant Hill police are investigating after a body was found in Porter Lake on Saturday afternoon, following a search tied to a 74-year-old man whose vehicle signal had been lost.
Officers had first contacted the man on Friday after he was reported for erratic driving. Emergency medical services evaluated him, and he was released. The next day, police returned to the area after OnStar asked them to look for the man when his vehicle signal was no longer active.
During a second search near the lake, officers discovered a body in the water. Police said debris floating on the surface suggested a vehicle may have entered the lake.
Police first met the man after reports of erratic driving
The sequence began Friday, Oct. 30, when officers made contact with the 74-year-old man after a report of erratic driving. Pleasant Hill police said EMS personnel checked him at that time.
After the evaluation, he was allowed to leave. Police later linked that encounter to the search the following day, after they were notified that the man could not be located and his vehicle signal had been lost.
That timeline has become central to the investigation, because officers were trying to determine whether the man they had seen Friday was the same person later connected to the lake search.
OnStar request led officers back to Porter Lake on Saturday
Police said they received a request from OnStar on Saturday, Oct. 31, to check on the man after his vehicle signal was lost. Officers searched the Porter Lake area at about 10:08 a.m. but did not find the man or his vehicle.
They returned just after 12:30 p.m. for another search on foot. During that second search, officers found a body in the water. Police have not said how long the body had been there or whether the man had been seen alive anywhere after Friday’s encounter.
The discovery shifted the case from a welfare search to a death investigation, with police now working to determine what happened between the Friday contact and the lake discovery.
Debris on the water suggested a vehicle may have entered the lake
Investigators said debris seen on the surface of the water suggested that a vehicle may have gone into Porter Lake. That detail has not been confirmed as a crash, but it gave officers a possible explanation for why the man and his vehicle were missing.
No official information has been released about the vehicle itself, including the make, model or whether it has been recovered. Police also have not said whether any witnesses saw a vehicle enter the lake.
The area around the lake remained the focus of the investigation after the body was found, as officers tried to piece together what happened and whether the water played a role in the man’s death.
Identity remains withheld until family notification is complete
Police have not publicly identified the person recovered from the lake. The department said the identity is being withheld until family notification is completed.
That step is routine in death investigations, especially when officers are still confirming the circumstances surrounding the recovery. At this point, Pleasant Hill police have not said whether the body is believed to be the 74-year-old man they had contacted on Friday.
Investigators are still working to confirm the person’s identity and establish the timeline that led from the traffic stop-type encounter on Friday to the discovery in the lake on Saturday.
Investigation continues as officers work to confirm what happened
The department said the investigation is ongoing, and no cause of death has been announced. Police have also not said whether foul play is suspected or whether the case is being treated as an accident.
For now, the confirmed facts are limited to the Friday contact, the OnStar request on Saturday, the two searches around Porter Lake, and the discovery of a body in the water. Anything beyond that remains for investigators to determine.
As officials sort through those unanswered questions, the case remains centered on a single location and a narrow window of time in late October.
