Missing jet skier found dead in Lake St. Clair on 22nd birthday
21-year-old missing jet skier found dead in Lake St. Clair
Rescue teams spent about five hours looking for Jonathan Kloss before calling off the search the night he went missing with a friend. The search continued the following day before the Macomb Sheriff Marine Division located the body of the 21-year-old.
CHESTERFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (FOX 2) - On the day he was meant to celebrate his 22nd birthday, Jonathan Kloss's body was found in Lake St. Clair's Anchor Bay after he and a friend went missing while jet skiing the night before.
The Chesterfield Township man was discovered dead just after 12 p.m. on Friday, Chesterfield Township police confirmed in a news release.
Authorities began searching for Kloss and his friend, 19-year-old Hunter Lentine of New Baltimore, after their jet skies capsized around 8:45 p.m. on Thursday.
Lentine was rescued by divers about 300 feet offshore on Thursday. Officials estimate Lentine was in the water for about three hours; he is currently at a local hospital, recovering.
Rescue teams spent about five hours looking for Kloss before calling off the search the night he and Lentine went missing. The search continued Friday morning before the Macomb Sheriff Marine Division recovered his body.
Family and friends are now mourning the sudden loss of Kloss.
"People are sharing pictures, people are sharing life quotes, a lot of ‘I love you’ (posts), a lot of group hugs," said Woodward Sports co-founder, Sam "Stick" Day. "It’s what death does to you as a human, it makes you realize that our days are fragile."
Jonathan Kloss (Photo credit: Speak EZ & Spencer Raxter)
Kloss was known to be a sports fanatic. He worked at Woodward Sports, a media company in Birmingham, with Day.
"Jon was the guy that just kind of walked in the door and asked for an internship out of nowhere," Day said. "He really had a passion for sports, and wanted to be a part of it in anyway possible."
Well-liked and friendly, Kloss always had a smile on his face.
"Very hard worker. (He would) do whatever it takes," Day said. "Sometime we had to be at places early to set up for broadcast, and he would lend a helping hand. Anything you would ask him to do, he would do."
Investigators are still working to determine what prompted the jet skis to flip over.