Giving Up Never An Option For Firefighters Who Recovered Missing Swimmer On Lake Norman

LAKE NORMAN, N.C. — One of the firefighters who helped find the body of a missing swimmer on Lake Norman has opened up about the search. 27-year-old Miles Merritt drowned on July 4th, his body was found days later.

Lieutenant Andrew Woodall, the firefighter who helped find Merritt, said giving up the search was not an option for any of the rescuers involved.

Cornelius Fire Department said it took more than two days and ten responding agencies to find Miles Merritt’s body. While rescuers knew where to look, recovering the body was like looking for a needle in a hay stack.

“Getting that area cleared out is one of the hardest things to start with. Um, and then getting the right area to look in,” Woodall said.

Witnesses pointed him and other rescuers to Lake Norman’s popular Sand Bar near Bethel Church Road Peninsula, where Merritt was last seen. Later that night on Independence Day, Cornelius Fire Rescue said Merritt drowned. The search then turned into a recovery, and for the next two days, crews dove and dove again.

“You see certain spots and you’re like, oh, that’s possible,” Lieutenant Woodall said. “Then going down and it’s like trees or stumps or something like that, and it gets a little frustrating.”

Woodall said his team’s main goal was to bring closure to Merritt’s family. That came Saturday, July 6th around 11 p.m. when
crews found Merritt’s body near the sand bar using drone-like equipment.

“We would have started again the next day, and we wouldn’t have stopped until we, grabbed him,” Woodall said.

Cornelius Fire Rescue urges people swimming on Lake Norman to wear a life jacket.

WCCB-TV has been able to reach Merritt’s father. He did not say much but said his family’s only focus right now is on mourning. He asks for prayers as he prepares for his son’s funeral.