BELGRADE, Maine — Maine game wardens recovered the body of a 66-year-old local man from Messalonskee Lake on Monday, a Maine Warden Service spokesman said in a news release.
The body of Peter Wesley Townsend was found about 10:30 a.m. by three people who were fishing, Cpl. John MacDonald said. Townsend had been swimming the southwestern shoreline of Messalonskee Lake from his home, MacDonald said.
Townsend’s body was found about 100 feet from shore in 6 feet of water and recovered by members of the warden service’s dive team, MacDonald said.
“Peter was an avid swimmer who regularly swam this route throughout the summer,” MacDonald said.
Maine game wardens and Maine State Police troopers, as well as Rome, Belgrade and Oakland fire and rescue personnel, assisted with the investigation. The Oakland Fire Department provided a boat that was used to recover Townsend’s body.
The death remains under investigation and will be reviewed by the state medical examiner and the Kennebec district attorney’s office.