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2 THE STAR/HERALD: Thursday, July 17, 1980A distraught Mary E SzumakJ walks out of the waters of Wampum lake Tuesday afternoon after firemen discovered the body of her boyfriend, John DeSanto, 28, of Calumet City De Santo was swimming in the lake about 30 feet from shore when he decided to return to land Witnesses told Cook county forest rangers that De Santa began bobbing up and down and then went under the water Ms Szumaki attempted a rescue, but was unable to locate DeSanto Fire department paramedics attempt ed to revive De Santo after the recovery, but to no avail He was pronounced dead on arrival at Ingalls Memorial hospital lt;Photo for The Star-Tribune by A1 Seib)Sign ignoredCalumet City man drowns at WampumBy TOM CSEPREGIA Calumet City man drowned late Tuesday afternoon in Wampum lake in the Cook county forest preserve near Thornton when he was unable to swim back to shore The drowning took place less than 50 feet from a forest preserve sign which read 'Danger deep water, steep dropoff Wading, swimming, boating prohibited ' Pronounced dead on arrival at Ingalls Memorial hospital in Harvey was John De Santo, 28, of Calumet City De Santo lived on 154th street, but forest preserve rangers did not know the exact address With De Santo at the time was his girl friend, Mary E Szumski, 22, of 17320 Burnham avenue, Lansing The South Holland and Harvey fire de partments worked together to locate and retrieve De Santo's body from the lakeACCORDING TO forest preserve ran gers, Ms Szumski said De Santo hadbeen drinking beer and taking barbitur ates when he decided to go swimming on the north side of the lake After swim ming out approxiamtely 30 feet, said Lt T Webster of the forest rangers. De Santo tried to swim back to shore to leave his wristwatch when he suddenly started bobbing up and down in the water and was unable to swim back to shore Ms Szumski told rangers that De Santo then dropped below the water She immediately dove in to attempt a rescue, but was unable to locate De Santo De Santo was swimming in an area where the bottom of the lake suddenly drops off to a deep section When Ms Szumski saw she was unable to help, she became afraid that she, too, might drown She waded back to shore, marked a tree near the place where De Santo went down, and ran for help The area was on the north side of the lake, far from the picnic areas THORNTON DOES not have a rescuesquad and the Harvey department handles Thornton's calls. The Harvey depart ment called the South Holland fire de partment to request a diving crew.Divers were unable to locate the body for about a half hour, so firemen had Ms Szumski wade out about 25 feet to point out the area where she saw De Santo go underWhen the body was discovered, a now frantic Ms Szumski said, “He was right there, too Oh, God, help The body was towed to shore behind a fire department rowboat and wrapped in a body bag before being brought to shore Ambulance crews worked on De Santo, but were unable to revive him As the ambulance left the scene, a tear ful, shaken Ms Szumski said, “God, he’s dead I can’t take it.”Of the drowning, Webster said “We’ve got more ino swimming) signs on that lake than you can shake a stick at People don’t pay attention to the signs ’’
Newspaper Details
Midlothian Star Herald
Midlothian, Illinois, US
Thu, Jul 17, 1980
Page 2
Full Page
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USA 27 Jun 2024
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