Victim named in suspected drowning

The Stephens County Sheriff's Office recovered the body of a Florida man Wednesday evening at Hubbard Creek Lake. Michael Henry Hanlon, 45, was found dead after a nearly hour-long search near Water District Road 277.

Stephens County Sheriff Roach said he received a phone call at 4:45 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 20 from dispatch stating that deputies were responding to a call of a possible drowning at the lake. According to the daily log provided by the Breckenridge Police Department, the possible drowning was reported at 4:41 p.m. 

Roach said Hanlon’s body was found using sonar equipment on a Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife Game Warden boat. Hanlon was pronounced dead by Justice of the Peace Steve Spoon at Paul Prater Landing. 

“Some people in their yard had been watching this guy. They thought he was noodling, or hand-fishing…,” Roach said. “He was just off the bank a little ways and he kept going under and coming up. He was just swimming along the shoreline. He got out of the water for a minute then went out deeper.”

Witnesses told authorities that they heard Hanlon call for help so they grabbed life jackets to try and assist Hamlin. The witnesses said they saw Hanlon go back underwater and never come up.

“I got in a boat with the parks and wildlife game warden and we started doing a grid search of the area and were able to use (sonar),” Roach said. “(We) found what we thought was a body in the water and was able to retrieve the body out of the water.”

According to Hanlon’s emergency contact in Florida, it was unknown why Hanlon was in Breckenridge. Roach said Hanlon was released from a jail facility in Florida in April and Hanlon was suspected to be transient. 

“His emergency contact is also in Florida. It took us a while to …have law enforcement in Florida find her,” Roach said. “She had no idea where he was, why he was in Texas or how he even got here. According to her he was suffering from mental illness.”

Roach said it was unknown if drugs or alcohol were involved in the suspected drowning. Hanlon’s official cause of death is pending autopsy.

Hanlon was the third suspected drowning at Hubbard Creek Lake since June. The Texas Department of Public Safety Texas Rangers are still investigating the suspected drowning of 21-year-old Kade Tyler Mercer on Aug. 29. Dakota Boulevard, 42, was found June 13 after being reported missing while kayaking near the Village Inn boat ramp on June 11.