Search continues for Memorial Day drowning victim at Smith lake

Published 6:10 pm Tuesday, May 31, 2022

Divers with the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office and other law enforcement agencies continued their search Tuesday evening for the body of a man presumed to have drowned following a Memorial Day accident on Monday.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) identified the presumed victim as Frankie D. Cruce, 60, whom ALEA said fell into the water as he attempted to retrieve a canopy that had fallen from his boat. The accident occurred on the Cullman County side of Smith Lake near County Road 365 at Miller’s Flats, approximately three miles southeast of Crane Hill.

The agency asked boaters to avoid the area, which lies along a northern inlet of the lake, while recovery crews use sonar equipment to search for the victim.

The dive team of the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office was first to begin the dive search, according to information officer Chad Whaley, though the recovery is being headed up by ALEA. The agency’s Marine Patrol Division is assisting teams from Daphne Search and Rescue and Logan Fire and Rescue in the recovery effort.

Additional details are limited as ALEA oversees the search. Though specific underwater conditions of the area were not made available Tuesday, Whaley said the lake generally poses unique recovery challenges for divers. Multiple dive teams are often enlisted to aid in recoveries of drownings at the lake, he added, because of the physical exhaustion that divers face when conducting a round-the-clock search.