Body Pulled From Lake Could Be That Of Missing Round Rock Woman

AUSTIN, TEXAS — A body pulled from from Lake Travis on Friday could be that of a woman who went under water and never resurfaced in May, officials said.

Via email, Travis County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Kristen Dark said the body was pulled from the lake on Friday morning at around 10:30 a.m. with the assistance of an Austin Police Department dive team. The recovered body was pulled in the vicinity of the lake where Rachel Kathleen Scott, 25,of Round Rock went missing in May, Dark said.

The spokesperson noted the body has not been positively identified as Scott, but officials believe it might be her given the location of the find. The recovery of the body 117 feet underwater — equivalent to a 10-story building — is the greatest depth from which a body has ever been recovered at Lake Travis, Dark noted.

Scott went missing in May after falling from the second level of a party barge, hitting her head along the way. As such, Dark implored with reporters not to categorize her death as a drowning until the medical examiner's report is concluded.

All told, Dark said, 13 people have drowned at the lake whose bodies have not been recovered in the lake's history. Six swimmers have gone missing in the lake this year, she added.

One of the bodies still not recovered is the that of Miguel Salas, who also went missing in May while boating with his wife. The newlyweds were enjoying the lake on May 5 when Salas was unable to drop anchor in depths he hadn't accounted for, his widow told Patch in a previous interview. He went into the water at one point, went under and never resurfaced, she recounted during the interview.

Dark said efforts to find Salas' body continue. But the task to recover a body at Lake Travis is challenging and treacherous given the depths and low visibility of a body of water that was never intended to be a recreational area, Dark said.

"This lake was never intended to be a recreational body of water," Dark said. "It was flooded as a reservoir. It is, quite literally, a flooded canyon."

Despite continual urging by sheriff's officials on the use of flotation devices, not a single recovered body has been found with the devices attached, Dark noted. The Travis County Sheriff's Office recently issued a press release urging visitors to the lake to safeguard their safety: "TCSO implores swimmers and boaters on Lake Travis to wear their life jackets," sheriff's officials advised after the body of Ricardo Sierra Martinez, 27, of Mexico, was pulled from the lake in June. "When seconds count in the unpredictable depths of the lake, life jackets save lives," sheriff's officials continued.

Dark stressed concerted efforts to recover bodies occur after each report of a drowning: "We care very much about bringing closures to the families," she said.

For Salas' widow, Roseann Salas, the agonizing wait for dive teams to find her husband's body was too much to bear without securing her own sense of closure. In August, the still-grieving woman updated Patch on her efforts to memorialize her husband's presumed death, even absent his body. After months of effort, she secured a court order to compel Travis County officials to provide her with a death record so she could stage a religious service celebrating his life as a means of achieving closure, she told Patch.

Related stories:

Agonizing Wait For Wife Of Boater Claimed By Lake Travis

Body Of Latest Lake Travis Drowning Victim Identified

Body Pulled From Lake Travis

3rd Drowning This Month Reported At Lake Travis

Travis Lake Drowning Victim Identified After Body Recovered

Lewisville Man Drowns At Lake Travis In Central Texas

Man Who Drowned At Lake Travis Identified

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