29 year old Joseph Ramos drowned in Millerton Lake Saturday night.
His family says he was swimming across a cove when he disappeared under the water.
Ramos was with relatives at Millerton Lake for a family reunion. They had just finished dinner when he went into the lake for a swim.
The group decided to swim across this cove Saturday night. Everyone made it except for Joseph Gumpal Ramos. Rosemarie Gumpal is his cousin. She was waiting at the shore for him. She says, " "The last we saw him, he was backstroking and we thought he was behind the rock."
Strangers and dive teams jumped in to search. The dark murky water made it difficult. Ten minutes later Gumpal says someone spotted a light 20 feet down. She says, " It's weird because he was wearing nothing but his black shorts. I think it was god's way of showing us he was in that spot."
Ramos drowned just 30 feet from the shore. His family says he was a good swimmer and refused to wear a life-jacket.
Sgt. Mark Deleon is a Ranger at Millerton Lake. He says the calm lake is deceptive. "The bottom is uneven, it can drop off and you can be in deep water very fast and it's not like a swimming pool where you can grab the walls if you're in distress."
TXT 24
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