Searchers recover body of Grand Rapids-area man who drowned in Sessions Lake near Ionia

BERLIN TWP. — The body of a missing man was recovered from Sessions Lake Monday, about eight days after he fell from his kayak into the 140-acre body of water in the Ionia State Recreation Area.

The Ionia County Sheriff's Office identified the man as Mauro Escobar-Loarca, 32, of the Grand Rapids area.

The man's body was found in about 40 feet of water using the Michigan State Police Dive Team's underwater drone, sheriff's officials said in a news release Tuesday.

Escobar-Loarca was kayaking with his girlfriend on the man-made lake between Ionia and Saranac about 7 p.m. July 14 when he flipped his kayak and did not resurface, sheriff officials have said. The two kayakers had became uncomfortable in their life jackets and decided to take them off, officials said.

Police and fire personnel searched the lake for more than four days before suspending the search July 18. The lake, which had been closed to recreation while divers did their work, reopened late Thursday.

It was unclear when the search resumed.

"The Sheriff’s Office would also like to thank the family members for their patience and understanding throughout this process," officials said in Tuesday's release.

State police, the Department of Natural Resources, staff from the DNR's Sessions Lake State Park, Kent County Sheriff’s Office, Montcalm County Sheriff’s Office, Berlin-Orange Fire Department, Saranac Fire Department, Lyons-Muir Fire Department, Ionia Department of Public Safety and Lake Odessa Fire Department helped with the search.

Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com . Follow him on X @KBPalm_lsj.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Searchers recover body of Grand Rapids-area man who drowned in Sessions Lake near Ionia