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Victim’s loved ones finance sonar gear

Denise Fox, widow of drowning victim Gary Fox, on Tuesday thanks donors to a memorial fund that helped buy sonar search equipment. (The Spokesman-Review)
Taryn Brodwater Staff writer
Denise Fox, widow of drowning victim Gary Fox, on Tuesday thanks donors to a memorial fund that helped buy sonar search equipment. (The Spokesman-Review)

Gary Fox’s body wasn’t recovered from Lake Coeur d’Alene until nearly a week after the Spokane Realtor fell off his 54-foot boat and drowned in April.

He could have been found and brought to the surface sooner if Kootenai County owned the type of specialized sonar equipment brought in from the Boise area to locate his body.

Now the county does, thanks to the efforts of Fox’s wife and friends.

“The days that Gary was missing were torturous,” Denise Fox said Tuesday as the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department unveiled its new side-scan sonar equipment, funded with $38,000 from the Gary Fox Marine Fund and $26,000 from the county.

Fox said through tears that she hopes the equipment will spare the relatives of drowning victims some of the anguish of not having their loved ones found.

The equipment will be available for use by authorities in Spokane County, where many of the donations came from, and throughout North Idaho, Sheriff Rocky Watson said.

For years, Watson said, his department lobbied unsuccessfully for money to buy side-scan sonar to help find bodies and evidence in the 18 lakes in the county.

Until now, the county has relied on the help of volunteers like Gene and Sandy Ralston, who traveled from the Boise area and found Fox’s body using their side-scan sonar. The Ralstons also helped find the bodies of two drowning victims in Hayden Lake and two others in Lake Pend Oreille, along with the remains of an unknown person deep in Priest Lake.

More bodies remain in the waters of North Idaho, and the new equipment could help bring closure to the families of other drowning victims, Kootenai County Marine Sgt. Matt Street said.

“I think this means a lot for families,” Street said. “Having to wait a week to even get that equipment up here is heart-wrenching for families of the victims.”

The county bought two torpedolike sonar “tow fish,” which are pulled behind boats as sound waves radiate sideways and produce a three-dimensional picture of a lakebed or river bottom.

One of the county’s new tow fish could be launched from a raft on a small body of water. The larger one will be installed on a 27-foot vessel the county already owns. Watson said it will cost $8,000 to $10,000 – money yet to be raised – to retrofit the boat for the sonar equipment.

Additional funds are needed for training Sheriff’s Department employees to use the equipment and future maintenance, he said. Now that the county has the sonar equipment, Street hopes the next purchase will be a remote operated vehicle, which could go deeper than divers who are prohibited from depths of more than 110 feet. Such a vehicle also could be used to retrieve bodies.