UPDATE: 8:24 p.m., July 24, 2022
PEORIA COUNTY, Ill. — The Peoria County Coroner’s office has released new details in the wake of a drowning reported over the weekend outside Chillicothe.
In a post on Facebook, Coroner Jamie Harwood says 75-year-old Cleve A. Klopfenstein, of Willow Ridge Circle, Peoria was swimming in Sante Fe Lake just before Peoria County Sheriff’s deputies were called to the area at 11:36 a.m. Saturday.
In an updated release late Sunday, Harwood said it was “unknown why” the man never resurfaced after going underwater.
Crews with Chillicothe Fire, the Peoria Fire Department’s Dive Team, and AMT managed to recover Klopfenstein’s body “in the lake”, according to the coroner’s release.
Earlier, the Peoria County Sheriff’s Office had indicated that Klopfenstein had owned one of the properties near where deputies found him. The man’s property is situated in what is presumably a quiet lake side bedroom community.
The neighborhood rests, well isolated far back into some rural, wooded country west of Chillicothe.
Harwood says the man’s cause of death is pending further investigation and a full autopsy is scheduled for Monday.
This is a developing story and will be updated when more information is released.
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ORIGINAL STORY:
PEORIA COUNTY, Ill. –There is a death investigation ongoing in Peoria County following the reported drowning of a man in a small lake northwest of Chillicothe.
Peoria County Sheriff’s deputies reportedly got the call out to the lake property off East Santa Fe Road before the lunch hour on Saturday.
Sheriff’s Officials tell the Journal Star the man who turned up dead also owned the property which is situated in what’s presumably a relatively quiet lake side community.
The paper reports Personnel from the Chillicothe Fire Department, the Peoria Fire Department’s Dive Team and AMT were all called to the scene.
The death remains under investigation now and the Peoria County Coroner is slated to release further details about the identity of the victim at a later time.
