No one found in drained Stoughton pond, city confirms

Stoughton searchers who drained a pond after a swimmer was reported missing confirmed no one was found in the pond.

The director of the Stoughton Department of Human Resources and Risk Management said in a statement Tuesday that after the water from Troll Beach was drained, no one was found.

On Monday, officials said they got a call around 4:30 p.m. about a swimmer at Troll Beach in Mandt Park who went down a water slide and didn’t come back out of the water.

Stoughton police and fire crews searched the pond Monday night but did not find anyone, officials said. The search was called off around 8:45 p.m. and police said they didn’t believe anyone was missing from the area.

A search line of more than 50 people, directed by the Dane County Dive Team, formed a line and canvassed the pond, Gillingham said. The deeper area was searched by the Dane County Dive Team and crews stayed at the pond until all the water was drained to make sure that no one was in the water.

Gillingham praised the Troll Beach lifeguards’ response to the incident, saying: “the event was a true testament to the excellent training that our lifeguards receive. Their search and rescue skills were executed flawlessly.”

Troll Beach is expected to reopen on Saturday, the city said.