By Perry Smith and Maya Morales
L.A. County Sheriff’s Department officials said they will be continuing their search of Castaic Lake on Tuesday for a man presumed to have drowned after he fell off a paddleboard.
Sheriff’s Department officials reported their hourslong search effort Monday was called for the day around 4:15 p.m., according to Deputy Brenda Serna of the Sheriff’s Information Bureau.
There was no sign of the man as of 5 p.m. Monday. The lake is expected to be closed Tuesday to the public as sheriff’s officials will continue their search.
A distraught family member declined to comment as he waited with several others gathered near the water as the LASD Emergency Services Department prepared to search the lake with its sonar equipment around 9:30 a.m. Monday.
The Sheriff’s Department released an emergency alert Monday morning regarding the missing man, Espiridion Philip “Speedy” Camez, 61, who was last reported seen at the lake shortly after noon on Sunday.
A 911 call indicated two people fell in Castaic Lake sometime after noon Sunday while paddleboarding, with paramedics receiving the call at 12:23 p.m., according to Capt. Sheila Kelleher of the L.A. County Fire Department. First responders were at the lake 15 minutes later.
Initially, it was reported the pair had been kayaking, but investigators later determined that they had been paddleboarding.
Kelleher said there were two patients involved. One patient, a woman, was rescued from the water and reportedly did not have injuries. She was seen Monday by the water waiting for the man who had been with her in the water.
The woman had been wearing a life jacket, while the man was not, according to radio dispatch traffic.
Sheriff’s Department officials did not comment on their relationship.
By mid-afternoon Sunday, lake personnel were directing visitors to leave the lower lagoon water as that section of the Castaic Lake State Recreation Area was closed for the day.
Speaking on background, a member of the LASD Search and Rescue Team confirmed the search is still believed to be a recovery effort for a drowning victim as of Monday morning.
Department officials, using a warrant under exigent circumstances, were able to obtain cell phone information, which they used in addition to witness statements to create a 6-acre search area of the water in Castaic Lake.
A helicopter unit from “Air 5,” which is part of the department’s emergency resources, also landed at the lake Monday a few hundred feet from several marine units ready to search the water.
One of the state’s largest reservoirs, according to the county’s Department of Parks and Recreation website, the lake’s surface area is approximately 12,658 acres, which includes the main upper lake and the lower lagoon, where Sunday’s incident occurred. The lagoon is 197 acres, and the maximum depth is approximately 70 feet.
Sgt. Charles Weather of the department’s ESD said it’s been at least several years since a drowning had occurred at the lake, but he did not have the most recent incident information available.
A director for ESD referred comment to the Sheriff’s Information Bureau, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday regarding the status of the search.
