Body found in lake a week after man vanished on fishing trip, Alabama cops say

A body was found submerged in an Alabama lake more than a week after a man vanished on a fishing trip, officials said.

Now, the Jefferson County Coroner/Medical Examiner’s Office has identified the deceased person as the missing man.

The case dates to Jan. 28, when 34-year-old Richard Douglas Fields set out to go kayak fishing on Bayview Lake near Birmingham. But his family didn’t hear from him two days later, sparking an “extensive search” on the water as deputies asked the public for clues.

Then on Feb. 5, officials said a dive team was searching the lake at the request of Fields’ family. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office then reported that a person was found in the water.

“The body has been transferred to the (Jefferson) County Medical Examiner’s Office, to perform an autopsy to confirm the identity of the body and cause of death,” deputies wrote in a news release.

The Jefferson County coroner’s office later confirmed the person was Fields, a Birmingham resident.

Bayview Lake is about 10 miles northwest of downtown Birmingham.

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