A Maine town manager died after saving his 4-year-old son when the two fell into a frozen pond while out on a walk Friday, police said.
Kevin Howell, 51, was walking with his son about 6:30 a.m. when they passed Etna Pond, about 1/3 mile from their Carmel home, the Penobscot County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. Facebook post.
Howell was able to pull her son out of the water and told him to take his mother, the sheriff's office said. After the boy ran home and told his mother what had happened, she called 911, grabbed an anchor and rope and ran to the pond to help her husband.
He roped to shore but also fell through the ice, according to the sheriff's office. A detective in the area who heard the 911 call responded and the “traitor” crawled across the ice, grabbing a rope as he went, and pulled the woman out.
However, no trace of Howell was found, the sheriff's office said. Members of the Maine Warden Service and the Carmel Fire Department arrived, but they also could not find Howell.
According to the sheriff's office, two Maine Warden Service divers went to the pond around 1:40 p.m. Friday and found Howell's body shortly before 2 p.m.
Carmel is about 93 miles northeast of Lewiston. Howell was the town manager there, the Maine Warden Service said NBC affiliate news center Maine. His office is responsible for the oversight and management of city departments, according to Carmel's website.
City representatives could not immediately be reached for comment Saturday evening.