LOWELL, Mich. — His wife says Roberto Rodriguez was a good swimmer, but Thursday afternoon her 41-year-old husband drowned in a lake near his home in Lowell.
“He was a very caring person and a hard worker,” says Veronica Rodriguez.
She says her husband was swimming with friends at Pebble Beach in Stoney Lakeside Park.
At some point, the friends noticed Rodriquez had disappeared under water.
The lake is murky and deep, and it took time to find the swimmer. When he was brought to shore he could not be revived. His wife says police called to tell her what happened.
“And he says I am sorry, but we have been trying to revive him for at least 30 minutes and he is not responding,” she recalls. “We were together for 16 years.”
Several people on the shore joined the search and assisted with the rescue attempt.
“I held his head as the boat and everybody pulled him to shore,” says Jodi Johnson. “I wish I could have found him sooner. It was awful. I just keep picturing it in my head.”
His wife says Rodriguez knew how to swim but he was also on dialysis because of kidney disease. It is not known if that contributed to his death in the lake.
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