No evidence of trauma in lake diver’s drowning

A diver found floating facedown in Lake Coeur d’Alene on Tuesday drowned, an autopsy confirmed Wednesday.

The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office said the diver, Michael Spencer McCullough, 31, of Rigby, Idaho, was wearing diving gear when found by employees at the Coeur d’Alene Resort golf course.

Rescuers cut the gear off of him so he could be lifted into a rescue boat, Maj. Ben Wolfinger said in a news release Wednesday.

Sheriff’s divers later retrieved the gear in 12 feet of water and discovered that McCullough’s air tank was empty, Wolfinger said.

McCullough, a middle school teacher in Rexburg, was on his first day of diving for contractor Bob Hamilton, retrieving golf balls and trash from the lake bottom around the course’s signature floating green.

He had a large basket of golf balls with him when rescuers found him and was wearing a dry suit in the 62-degree water.

McCullough was certified to dive in Southern Idaho but had not dived since 2007, Wolfinger said.

There was no indication of trauma or medical factors that may have contributed to his death, he said.

Melissa Earl, of Medical Lake, said her brother taught at Madison Middle School in Rexburg, where he had been named teacher of the year.

McCullough’s wife is pregnant with their second child, Earl said. She described him as a family man who loved to play with his nephews and was skilled on electric guitar. He recently returned from a trip to Alaska, “an adventure of a lifetime,” Earl said in an e-mail.

“He really and truly lived,” she said. “He leaves behind a family that was incredibly blessed for knowing him, and students that will never forget him.”

The Sheriff’s Office said the investigation was continuing.