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Polk deputies find body of missing swimmer

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TBO.com

Published: May 10, 2009

Updated: 05/11/2009 09:59 am

LAKE WALES - The body of a 57-year-old man who jumped off a pontoon boat for a swim Saturday evening has been found in Lake Pierce, Polk County deputies said today.

Deputies found the body of Milton Nearing about 7 a.m. today. The sheriff's office was investigating the incident as a swimming incident; an autopsy will determine the cause of death.

Nearing, of 2927 Tindel Camp Road, was on a friend's boat with his live-in girlfriend and three other people when he jumped in the lake, deputies said. He was not wearing a life jacket, and the boat's motor wasn't running at the time.

Witnesses said they saw Nearing surface once but did not see him come up again. They searched for about 20 minutes before getting back aboard and heading to shore to call 911, the sheriff's office said.

Witnesses said Nearing had been drinking but was not drunk.

A sheriff's boat and helicopter along with boats from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission searched into the night Saturday. The sheriff's boat and helicopter resumed searching at daybreak Sunday.

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