BRANCH TWP. (WWJ) — Authorities are waiting for autopsy results after a Livonia man was found dead on a fishing trip in Northern Michigan.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office on Friday morning got a missing person report after 70-year-old Thomas Moran, who was vacationing north of Big Rapids, didn’t come back after a day of fly fishing on the Pere Marquette River.
Mason County Sheriff’s deputies were able to get a general area of where Moran had been fishing, thanks to information the family gave Lake County authorities.
When deputies searched federal forest property known as the Maple Leaf Access — near US-10 and Taylor Road in Branch Township — they found Moran’s unoccupied car in the parking lot.
As he was not with the car, a more extensive search began, using foot patrols, watercraft and drones.
After about six hours of search, Moran’s body was found in the Pere Marquette River, about a half mile downstream from the Maple Leaf Access parking area.
While an autopsy will determine Moran’s cause of death, Mason County officials do not suspect foul play and it “appears that the incident was accidental or medical in nature.”
“On behalf of the men and women at the Mason County Sheriff’s Office, our thoughts are with the Moran family during this difficult time,” Sheriff Henry Cole said, per a press release.
Mason County Sheriff’s Deputies were assisted by Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Branch Fire Department, Mason/Oceana 911, Life EMS, Mason County Drone Unit, Mason County Marine Patrol, Mason County Victim’s Services Unit, and Mason County Emergency Management.