Wife threw rope to drowning man

The investigation into the April 21 drowning death of Spokane Realtor Gary Fox revealed his wife tried frantically to call for help after he slipped below the surface of Lake Coeur d’Alene.

Denise Fox tried the CB radio and got no response, according to a report from the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department.

She dialed 411 – directory assistance – on her cell phone looking for the number for Carlin Bay Resort, where she and her husband were headed to meet friends for dinner. The operator couldn’t find the number.

A minute later she dialed the Bonner County Sheriff’s Department and, two minutes after that, again called 411 for the number of Carlin Bay Resort. That time, she got through.

Fellow boaters who overheard Denise Fox’s initial call over the CB radio arrived at the scene before authorities and began searching for Gary Fox. Kootenai County sheriff’s Sgt. Ken Lallatin said in his report it appeared Fox, 57, slipped off his freshly waxed boat and fell into the lake.

Lallatin said it appeared the cause of death was accidental drowning.

Toxicology reports revealed that Gary Fox’s blood-alcohol level was .074, just below the legal limit.

Denise Fox told authorities she went to the lower level of the boat to fix her husband a scotch while he put out the fenders as they neared Carlin Bay.

She said she came upstairs and didn’t see her husband, but assumed he was on the stern smoking a cigarette. After a couple of minutes, she said she looked out the window and saw her husband in the water a distance behind the boat.

Denise Fox told investigators she tried to turn the boat around, pulled alongside her husband and threw him a rope. She said she overshot so she ran to the back of the boat and threw another rope as her husband disappeared below the surface.

Fox’s body was recovered five days later with the help of side-scan sonar equipment that located his body on the lake bottom.

The evening Fox drowned, the water was 43 degrees, the report said.

Boating safety instructors advise boaters to wear life jackets and warn of the drugging effect cold water has. As blood rushes from other parts of the body to keep the core temperature raised, less blood is going to the brain and arms and legs, making it difficult for people to think, act quickly and stay afloat.

Though Fox was an experienced boater, neither he nor his wife was wearing a life jacket.