Hopatcong Police Probe the Mystery of the Overturned Boat

Thursday truly was a dark and stormy night that drenched much of the region and created some drama near the main lake off of Elba Beach Club, according to Hopatcong Borough Police. 

Officer Paul Barta was on Ithanell Road at about 7:21 p.m., responding to fires and trees down following the storm's most recent blast, when he was approached  by a woman, said department spokesperson Lt. Thomas Kmetz in a statement. 
 

"She told him there was a overturned boat off of Elba Beach Club," Kmetz said.  "Officer Barta could see the yellow hull of a boat about 50 yards off of the shore. No one was answering his calls from where the boat was.  It was not known if someone was in the water or if the storm just blew the boat from its dock."

According to the statement, neither the New Jersey State Police marine division nor the Lake Hopatcong Auxiliary Coast Guard were able to respond to their calls for assistance.

Det. William Sutphen was able to reach Hopatcong resident and Katz Marina owner Seth Katz, who took the detective out on his boat to the place where the overturned boat was last seen, Kmetz said.  

The yellow hulled boat turned out to be a kayak, he continued. Another kayak sat beside it. No one was in the water near the boats.  Katz and Det. Sutphen took the two kayaks to the Marine Police dock near the River Styx bridge.  

And the mystery had a happy ending.

"A person called the State Police Marine bureau reporting his two kayaks missing that matched those found,". Kmetz said. "He was advised of where they were."