Missing swimmer recovered from Madison Lake ID’d

Montes Padilla’s body was spotted around 3 p.m. Monday by two fire department personnel, said Ralph Bowman, Trotwood Fire Department public information officer. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office brought a drone that was able to more definitively find it near the shore in the cover where he was last seen.

Montes Padilla was reported missing around 12:25 p.m. Saturday at the lake in the 500 block of Olive Road.

He was with a group swimming in Madison Lake and went underwater while people’s backs were turned, Bowman said.

A 911 caller said the group was swimming when they looked back and saw one of their friends wasn’t with them.

“He’s not coming above water, and we can’t find him,” the caller said.

The caller added the group was near the cliff area and that people were still trying to search for him in the water.

“(Saturday) afternoon, our crews were dispatched to Madison Lake in response to a report of a missing swimmer. Upon arrival, we immediately initiated a thorough search of the area,” Bowman said on Sunday. “Our teams worked tirelessly, both on the water and along the shoreline, utilizing all available resources to locate the individual. Despite our extensive efforts, as night fell, we had to make the difficult decision to suspend the search due to the increasing darkness and safety concerns for our personnel.”

On Monday, Bowman said that the search involved underwater drones and dive teams conducting an extensive search.

Bowman said on Sunday, the second day of the search, crews expanded the search area to include additional parts of the lake that were not within the initial search zone.

“Despite these efforts, the missing individual was not located,” he said. “As daylight diminished, the decision was made to suspend the search due to the loss of light.”

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By Monday, Bowman said, the search had become a recovery operation, which involved sending out a crew in a boat in the morning and again in the afternoon.

“Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with the family during this difficult time,” Bowman said.

He thanked neighboring communities that assisted with the search over the weekend, including the Wright Patterson Air Force Base Fire Department, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the Fire Collaborative and Box 21.

Bowman stressed multiple times that Madison Lake is not a safe place to swim and that the fire department responds to the lake every year.

“Don’t jump off the cliffs, don’t swim in Madison Lake,” he said. “I don’t know how to stress it enough. Do not swim in Madison Lake.”

When asked whether there was a way to keep people out of the lake, he said, “I wish. I really do.”

He said there is access to the lake from all around, and what fencing is there is falling apart.