WOLFE COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — After three days of searching, water rescue teams recovered the body of a missing man in Wolfe County.
Officials say 20-year-old James Lovelace and a friend were swimming across Lake Campton to the jumping rocks Monday afternoon when Lovelace went under and never resurfaced.
“His friend was walking in front of him and he was behind him and he said they didn’t hear him for 30 seconds,” said Marie Lovelace, James’ mother. “They turned around and they say he was gone.”
Officials said one of the challenges was only one person was with Lovelace at the time and no one else can help fill in the blanks as to what happened.
“He remembered going down into the water himself and trying to feel for the boy,” said Jim Cuppy of Wolfe County Search and Rescue. “He does believe that he may have seen out of the corner of his eye some disturbances around that area so he went down himself.”
Lovelace was from Breathitt County. His family said he loved the outdoors, music, and horseback riding.
