Emergency crews are postponing the search a missing 33-year-old New Milford man today because of the forecast for heavy rains.
The search for Eric Langlois started after a jogger called 911 around 8 p.m. on Tuesday and reported seeing a man fall from some rocks at Lovers Leap State Park and go into Lake Lillinoah, which is connected to the Housatonic River.
She told emergency crews that the man was by himself and was yelling for help.
Police said they also received a report that Langlois had a bike accident on Tuesday did not return home on Tuesday night.
His wife reported that he had fallen off his mountain bike on Monday. His bike had gone into the lake, she said, and Langlois had gone back to the lake on Tuesday to see if he could retrieve it, but did not return home.
“There was a gentleman who, the day before yesterday, went mountain biking on Lovers Leap State Park and apparently had an accident with his bike. The bike went into the water. He went into the water, suffered a minor injury. He was picked up by a family member and supposedly he had returned yesterday. He was searching for his mountain bike,” Capt. Raul Camejo, of the Environmental Conservation Police, said.
On Wednesday, Langlois' family and friends lined a bridge, hoping for good news.
"We have boats that are going in the water. We had dive teams in last night from state police and Newtown underwater search and rescue and they used sonar and couldn't find anyone in the bottom," Camejo said.
Several agencies from across the state searched for him, sifting through the lake and looking for any sign of that man, but nothing turned up.
The search continued until about 11 p.m. on Tuesday, but was called off because conditions were too dangerous.
“You never want to leave something. You just have to look at the big picture and we have to look at the safety of our crews,” Lt. Lawrence Ash, of the New Milford Police Department, said.
A state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection resumed the search around 8 a.m. on Wednesday in hopes of finding Langlois before more rain comes.
“We’re treating this as a search and rescue. We don’t know whether he managed to make it to the shore or not,” Camejo said. “We have boats that are going in the water. We had dive teams in last night from state police and Newtown underwater search and rescue and they used sonar and couldn’t find anyone in the bottom. … Our hope, at this point, is that we will be able to find somebody on the shoreline.”
Photo Credit: NBCConnecticut.com