Body found in Canyon Lake after 26-year-old fell into water during Thursday's storm

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office has found the body of a 26-year old man who drowned at Canyon Lake during a storm on Thursday evening, the agency confirmed in a press release.

Gerardo Nava-Bedolla was paddle boarding on the lake, which is just north of Apache Junction. Witnesses told first responders that he was not wearing a life vest and fell off his board when a storm hit around 5:30 p.m. on Thursday.

He was last seen alive trying to swim to shore at the Acacia Recreation site. Deputies unsuccessfully searched for him until around 9:15 p.m. that night, when the agency called off its search boats.

On Friday morning, the agency's remotely operated vehicle team started searching again and found Nava-Bedolla's body 75 feet beneath the lake's surface at around 9:00 a.m.

A press release from the Sheriff's Office said "there were no suspicious circumstances" identified related to the man's death.

Reporter Sam Kmack covers Tempe, Scottsdale and Chandler. Follow him on X @KmackSam or reach him at sam.kmack@arizonarepublic.com .

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Body found in Canyon Lake after 26-year-old fell into water during Thursday's storm