HAMILTON, MASS. (WHDH) - The body of a 73-year-old man was pulled from a lake in Hamilton Wednesday, days after officials said he accidentally drove into the water.
Wrentham police identified the driver as Steve Perry and said he was found dead inside his car. Crews had been busy searching Chebacco Lake area and were later seen towing Perry’s dark blue Cadillac away after finding Perry’s body.
“You could hear the cranking metal noise and so, we looked over and you could see a car that they were pulling out of the water,” said Laura Ricker, who watched the recovery mission.
Wrentham police asked for the public’s help after they said Perry failed to return home from a trip to visit a local restaurant Saturday afternoon.
Speaking with 7NEWS on Wednesday, Wrentham Police Chief Bill McGrath said this case is personal.
“He knew from the time I was a little kid,” McGrath said. “And he was friends with my dad.”
McGrath had just helped Perry find housing after falling on tough times.
When Perry went missing, McGrath said he reached the retired truck driver on his cell phone. McGrath said Perry told him he was driving and got lost.
“I really think, at that point, anxiety or whatever, he started to unravel and got more disoriented,” McGrath said.
Perry’s phone died and contact stopped.
As they searched for him, investigators using license plate readers and phone tracing tracked Perry’s car to the area of a boat ramp into Chebacco Lake.
After finding Perry, investigators said it appeared the man had been traveling on a dark road that led to the boat landing. Investigators believe Perry subsequently became disoriented and drove into the water where he died.
“I think, being tired, and I know he got tired easily, that he went down that road, didn’t quite visualize the horizon correctly where the road ended and the boat dock began and plunged into the water,” McGrath said.
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