Man Drowned, Another Missing In Accidents

Wed., Sept. 9, 1998

From Staff Reports

Accidents on area waterways over the Labor Day weekend left one man missing and another dead.

Charles E. Brown, 52, of Spokane, remained missing late Tuesday after a boating accident on Mason Lake south of Cheney, sheriff’s deputies said.

His sunken boat was pulled from the lake about 3 p.m. Tuesday. Searchers had not been able to find Brown.

He disappeared about 5:45 p.m. Monday when he fell out of his boat. Brown did not know how to swim and did not have a life preserver, deputies said.

In an unrelated accident, Kelly D. Deffe, 33, drowned Saturday in the Spokane River east of Argonne Road near Donkey Island, deputies said.

Deffe had reportedly been swimming and learning to snorkel about 6:15 p.m. Saturday when he disappeared, deputies said.

His wife found him on the river bottom in at least 5 feet of water. Deffe was pronounced dead at the scene, deputies said.

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