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MURPHYSBORO – The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office continues to investigate a recent boating accident that claimed the life of a Missouri man at Kincaid Lake in rural Murphysboro.

According to the sheriff’s office, just after 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 31, the sheriff’s office received a report of a boating accident involving an 18-foot aluminum jon boat on Kinkaid Lake near the spillway. Deputies responded to the scene along with the Jackson County Ambulance Service and the Murphysboro Fire Department.

Initial reports indicated 69-year-old Deborah Daugherty and her husband, 80-year-old Lawrence Daugherty, both of Desoto, MO, were on their boat when it crashed causing the couple to be thrown from the boat. Another boater located the couple in the water and was able to get Deborah Daugherty aboard their boat. However, they were not able to find her husband. Deborah Daugherty was taken by ambulance to a local hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.

A search of the lake began and involved the sheriff’s office boat search and rescue team along with boats from the Murphysboro Fire Department and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. These departments were aided by the MABAS Division 45/68 Sonar and Dive Teams consisting of members of Franklin County Emergency Management and members of the Benton, West Frankfort, Marion, Herrin, Carterville, Carbondale and Murphysboro Fire Departments. The search lasted until midnight, when the search was postponed until the following morning.

Just after 1 p.m. Thursday, divers found Lawrence Daugherty in 50 feet of water near the area where the crash happened. Daugherty was later transported from the scene by the Jackson County Coroner’s Office.