Body of Citrus Springs man, likely drowned, found in Lake Weir, near Ocala
Photograph courtesy of MCSO.
Marion County, Florida - Around 7:15 a.m. on Thursday, June 23, 2022, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office's Aviation and Marine units and Underwater Recovery Team recovered the body of 32 year-old Joseph Evan Cruz of Citrus Springs, Florida in Lake Weir - located 16 miles southeast of Ocala, Florida in southern Marion County. Mr. Cruz had gone missing in Lake Weir on Tuesday afternoon, June 21, 2022, when around 2:30 p.m., the Marion County Sheriff’s Office had received a call for service with the report of a boat drifting on Lake Weir one of the boat's occupants missing in the water.
Officials learned that Joseph Cruz and three children had been on Lake Weir, when he and two of the children had gone swimming. The boat began to drift away from the area, and one of the children had used the watercraft to pick up the two children and Mr. Cruz, who were still in the water. However, when the child returned to the area where the three had gone swimming, Mr. Cruz could not be located.
Due to Mr. Cruz’s disappearance in the middle of Lake Weir, Marion County deputies considered the possibility that he had drowned.
Members of the agency's Aviation and Marine units and Underwater Recovery Team, with the assistance of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, searched for Mr. Cruz, from the time of his reported disappearance on June 21 until around 7:15 a.m., June 23, when his body was located. When Mr. Cruz’s body was located, he was already deceased and signs indicated that he had likely drowned.
Detective Donald Carpenter with the Marion County Sheriff's Office's Major Crimes division is continuing the investigation into the circumstances of Mr. Cruz’s death.