Update, 5:47 p.m.: The Broward Sheriff's Office just released a statement identifying the body found as the man who was missing Thursday, but his name is Cleudson DaSilva, age 37, not "Douglas Johnson."
Original post, 4:24 p.m.:
A body believed to be a man who disappeared while swimming on Thursday was discovered by a person riding a wave runner this afternoon, according to Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue spokesman Mike Jachles.
The body was found in Crystal Lake, in Pompano Beach at the intersection of Sample Road and Military Trail.
A man whom a witness identified as Douglas Johnson disappeared while swimming with a friend Thursday evening, according to Local 10. Witnesses said he was a Brazilian immigrant...
... who was kind to area homeless people and was, according to one man, "probably the nicest guy I've ever met in my life."
But authorities couldn't find his body.
Though Jachles said there were "firefighters in the water within minutes" of being called at 6:05 p.m. Thursday, neither they nor Broward Sheriff's Office divers could find any sign of the man. They called off the search at 1 a.m. Friday, returning the next morning to keep looking.
There were also detectives over the weekend at the lake, which Jachles said can be 50 to 60 feet deep in places.
Authorities were called today when the wave-runner rider found a body floating near the southeast corner of the lake. Jachles said that he couldn't confirm that the man who disappeared Thursday was named Douglas Johnson and that the name didn't "ring a bell." Officials are waiting on positive identification, he said, but the body recovered today "was most likely" the missing man from Thursday.
