photo Geary Co. Sheriff
Authorities say a Fort Riley soldier drowned Sunday while swimming with his family at Milford Lake.
Geary County Sheriff Tony Wolf confirmed the victim was Xavier Joseph Harden, 23, Fort Riley. The incident occurred in a cove in the Farnum Creek area. Wolf said authorities were called about a possible drowning about 1:30 p.m. Sunday.
Wolf reported, “It was in the cove along Acorn’s Resort. There was a man, a woman and a three-year boy who were playing in the water. They were playing on some store bought flotation devices. The wind apparently got ahold of the female half and the child, and blew them a little bit farther away from the shore than what they were comfortable with.” Wolf said
Harden was floating on another flotation device and was going to jump down off of his device, grab both of them and pull everyone back into the shore. “He jumped off his flotation device and struggled a few seconds and went straight down. According to the wife she advised us right away he was unable to swim and that was the reason he was unable to stay up top.”
Wolf said authorities went into a recovery mode but Harden never resurfaced. A dive team from Shawnee Mission, Kansas came into provide assistance along with Junction City Fire / EMS, Geary County Rural Fire, Geary County Sheriff’s Department, and Kansas Wildlife Parks and Tourism. The body was located about 5:15 p.m. “We have scheduled an autopsy but right now everything looks to be….it was a drowning.”
The hometown of the drowning victim is not yet known. Wolf confirmed the victim’s wife and child are being taken care of by the military.