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June 17, 2008

Officials ID man who drowned

Body was found in CCL late Monday

By Art Lawler

GUN BARREL CITY — Fourteen-year-old Skyler Wheat of Dallas sat alone with his thoughts on the edge of Cedar Creek Lake late Monday afternoon.

On the one hand, he was relieved to have made it back to safety from Bird Island, even though he was choking and gasping for air for several minutes at the edge of the Eastwood Isle subdivision.

On the other, his friend, 20-year-old Gregg Eugene Fields, was missing.

Wheat’s wait lasted for the next few hours as more than 35 water vehicles and an Air 1 helicopter from East Texas Medical Center searched Cedar Creek Lake for Fields.

The mild winds were continuing to blow the water steadily in a northwest direction — the same direction Wheat saw his friend fighting to avoid — when he turned around from his own life-saving swim to look for him.

“I saw him struggling,” Wheat said. “He was pretty far behind me.”

As it turned out, Wheat was the last person to see Fields alive. Rescue workers found his body about 7:45 p.m. Monday.

He was pronounced dead at 9:11 p.m. by Pct. 2 Justice of the Peace Dale Blaylock.

The search was carried out by police and firefighters from Gun Barrel City, Seven Points, Tool and Mabank, in addition to the Henderson County Sheriff’s Department and the Texas Parks and Wildlife.

Henderson County Sheriff’s Sgt. Jim Langford, through the use of Sonar equipment, was able to spot an object searchers suspected was Fields’ body more than 19 feet below the surface.

Texas Game Warden Shawn Smith was finally able to bring the body on board his boat, and later, Blaylock ordered it sent to Dallas Forensics Institute for autopsy.

Earlier in the day, the two friends had boarded a light, blown-up yellow air raft to float the quarter mile distance from the Eastwood Isle subdivision to nearby Bird Island, located south of the bridges on State Highway 334.

Wheat stays at the home of his father, Glen Wheat, in the summer, but lives in Dallas with his mother during the schoolyear, he said. The teen said it was his dad who introduced him to Fields last summer.

The two left the banks riding in the raft about 4 p.m. Monday with temperatures hovering near 100 degrees. The trip to Bird Island was apparently uneventful.

For the return trip, though, the two reasoned the raft was too heavy to push against the currents, so they discarded it and began swimming back.

Wheat said he just kept swimming toward the dock despite the current.

“It was really hard,” he said. “I just barely made it back.”

The deceased’s mother was identified by Blaylock as Loy Sutton. His stepfather, Frank Wagner, lives in Seven Points.

The young man had most recently been living at 205 Seaside residence in Gun Barrel City, according to Blaylock.

Charles Stiff contributed to this story.

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