[UPDATE] On Monday, July 04, 2016 just after 9:00 a.m., Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Dive Team recovered Rodolfo Ruiz in the area where he was last seen by witnesses. He was located in 26 feet of water. Sheriff’s Detective positively identified Rodolfo from his Arizona MVD photo. The Maricopa County Examiner’s Office responded and the decedent was conveyed to them. A visual body exam was performed by MCSO Detectives which revealed no trauma or significant injury. There are no signs of foul play and this is being investigated as a drowning.
On Sunday morning, just after 2:00 a.m., the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call, about Rodolfo Ruiz, age 37, from Tucson, who was observed entering the water in the first cove north of the gas docks at Apache Lake. Prior to entering the water he had disrupted two different campsites by falling on top of an EZ Up shade canopy, knocked over chairs and fell into an occupied tent.
When in the water he was observed swimming towards a hazard buoy while breathing heavily. The witnesses said after every stroke he took a loud breath. At one point a witness, who was about 50 yards away illuminated him with a flashlight and yelled loudly “are you ok?” She did this numerous times and did not get a response. She said he was flailing his arms continuing to gasp for air.
She yelled for help and that is when other campers began to come out of their tents. A Good Samaritans on a personal watercraft and a boat drove over to where Ruiz was and attempted to rescue him. The witnesses arrived alongside him first and said he was face down. They were not wearing personal floatation devices and did not feel comfortable jumping in the water. They reached for him however, could not get to him. When they maneuvered around the subject he rolled over and then submerged. The operator of a boat arrived on scene and shined a flashlight on Mr. Ruiz just as he was submerging.
A search of the area began by boat and air at approximately 3am by Sheriff’s deputies with negative results. MCSO Divers responded and conducted dive operations from early morning until mid-afternoon. Divers were able located Mr.
Ruiz’s shorts in the area he was last seen in and his wife later confirmed they were his. No other items of evidentiary value were located.
MCSO Detectives were called out and contacted the sister-in-law of the victim near the shoreline. She told Detectives that her brother-in-law was missing. She explained he was really intoxicated last night and left their room agitated after a physical altercation with his wife. Rodolfo’s wife also confirmed that he was using drugs and had been drinking beer all day.
At this point in the investigation there are no signs of foul play. The search and recovery mission will resume at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow Monday, July 4, 2016.