Body of Boating Victim Discovered

By Matthew Penix
St. Tammany News
Published on Wednesday, May 21, 2008 2:24 PM CDT

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A search party confirmed Wednesday the greatest fears of a local family whose son fell off a bass boat four days ago: Glen Ray Toney, 24, was dead, his body found underwater, pinned against a submerged tree.

Toney, a Lacombe area father of two and soon to be married to his girlfriend, was found just yards away from where he lost his footing and fell in the West Pearl River about one mile east of Lock 1 near the Pearl River Navigational Canal Sunday during a family fishing trip, said Capt. Len Yokum, director of U.S. Wildlife and Fisheries' region 7 enforcement division.

The discovery between 7:30 and 9 p.m. ends a three-day search in which St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office special operations deputies and Fisheries rescue agents combed the area in boats, dragged the river with nets and sent divers searching the muddy water. Nothing was discovered.

As darkness fell Tuesday, rescue officials were wrapping up the day's search when they "decided one more time," to pull on a submerged tree, its limbs jutting out of the water, Sheriff's Office spokesman George Bonnett said.

"They hooked on debris, moved it more than previously," and Toney's body was freed, Bonnett said.

The exact cause of death was unknown as of press time as Coroner's officials could not be reached for comment. But both Bonnett and Yokum said Toney suffered head, neck and arm trauma from the boat's propeller.

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