Body recovered from car
Sheriff: Incident at Moorland Pond doesn’t appear to be suspicious
MOORLAND — A body was recovered from inside of a submerged car in Moorland Pond Friday morning.
The incident was reported shortly before 9 a.m.
The person inside the car has only been identified as a woman by Webster County Medical Examiner Dr. Dan Cole.
Nobody else was in the car, Cole said, adding that it appeared the car went straight into the pond.
A witness was traveling on U.S. Highway 20 when they saw the car drive into the pond, according to Webster County Sheriff Jim Stubbs.
Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Jayson Heesch and a Moorland firefighter were among the first on scene. Stubbs said both went into the water to try and find the car, but they were unsuccessful.
A boat from the Fort Dodge Fire Department was dispatched to the scene as well to aid in the search.
The car was located after about an hour.
Rescuers called Michael Lundberg to the scene to aid in the recovery. Lundberg donned SCUBA gear and dove underwater to help attach cables and chains to the car so a truck could lift it out.
About an hour after finding the car, a crew from MidIowa Towing, of Fort Dodge, worked to get the car out of the water, which ended up being a two-step process.
First, a chain was attached to a flatbed tow-truck, which pulled the car about halfway out of the water. Then, a large tow truck, known as a wrecker, arrived. Using a giant cable and what looked like a crane, the wrecker lifted the car the rest of the way out of the water and set it on land.
The body was found after the car was pulled out of the water.
In addition to the tow truck and rescuers, investigators with the Fort Dodge Police Department were also on scene.
“We can’t rule anything out at this point,” Stubbs said.
However, he did say that foul play is not suspected in the “tragic event.”
Cole said the body will be transported to the state medical examiner’s office in Ankeny for an autopsy.
Others who responded to the scene included the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and Iowa State Patrol.