A Frantic Search Ends Happily

By JENNA BUZZACCO
jennabuzzacco@sanduskyregister.com
 

CATAWBA ISLAND TWP.
 

Two hours after his family reported he was thought to have fallen overboard, Eric Lile, 4, emerged from under blankets in a sleeping compartment on his family's boat, two miles from West Harbor on Catawba Island.

Family, friends, other boaters and seven agencies -- including two helicopters -- searched Lake Erie between Catawba Island and Kelleys Island for Eric.

"He just came walking out of the cabin," said Ottawa County Sheriff's deputy Jim Reagan. "He was tucked in next to a bed in the bow of the boat with the covers over him."

Family, friends and a sheriff's deputy had already searched the boat, and the cabin, for Eric.

Greg Lile, Eric's father, breathed a sigh of relief when his son appeared, as other passengers screamed with joy.

Once the boat docked at Gem Beach Marina, Greg Lile held Eric tightly as he shook with relief.

"Everyone was shaking and screaming (when Eric was found)," said Nick Lile, Eric's uncle.

The sheriff's office received a call of a 4-year-old boy overboard at about 5:48 p.m. Saturday, according to Ottawa County Sheriff's Sgt. Jeff Hickman. It took about eight minutes for his team to respond, and from that minute they were dedicated to finding the boy.

Hickman said Eric was discovered missing about a mile into the trip, two miles from West Harbor on Catabwa Island. When the sheriff's office arrived, the Liles' boat was going in circles as friends and family members searched for the boy.

Nick Lile said all of the adults searched the boat and were unable to locate Eric. Reagan also boarded the boat and searched every room, but was also unable to find him.

Besides the Ottawa County Sheriff's office, about seven other agencies were called out, including the Coast Guard and the Sandusky Police Department's dive team.

Law enforcement agencies weren't the only people looking, Hickman said. Between 50 and 60 private boats combed the water looking for the boy.

"The law enforcement was amazing," Lile said. "All of the people who heard it on the radio were amazing. People we never met and never will meet, they (were) clapping when they came in."

Jim Kennedy of Lake Erie Towing, said he was leaving the lake for Sandusky Bay when he heard the Coast Guard call for help with the search and headed straight for the Liles' boat.

"When situations like that come up, you've got to do what you've got to do to help out," he said.

There were six other commercial towing vessels in the search, Kennedy said.

Family members and search teams were especially worried because Eric was not wearing a lifejacket.

"He didn't have one on when he was in the cabin," Nick Lile said. "The door was shut and he was watching a movie. That won't happen again."

Three other children were aboard the boat Saturday night, as well as Eric's aunt and two friends of the family.

"The same thing happened to me when I was little, except it was wintertime," Nick Lile said. "He's taking after his uncle."

The Coast Guard sent two helicopters to aid in the search, Hickman said. Catabawa Island and Lakeside fire departments, and Ottawa County Sheriff, Sandusky Police Department, Put-in-Bay Police Department and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources dive teams also assisted in the search.