Divers scour frigid Wisconsin lake for 2 missing men

EAST TROY, Wis. -- Divers are fighting frigid water as they search for two men who went missing at southern Wisconsin lake, after the bodies of two of their friends were pulled from the water.

Authorities in East Troy say the four men from Illinois were staying at a house on Mill Lake, which is part of Lake Beulah.

Friends told investigators the men went outside to smoke around 2:30 a.m. Sunday. The friends discovered the four were missing around 9 a.m. They found footprints in the snow to the boathouse and a canoe overturned in the lake.

CBS affiliate WDJT reports that two of the men were found Monday by search and rescue crews with sonar technology. The search for the two missing men continues in Walworth County near Lake Beulah.

The Walworth County Sheriff's Office identified those victims Monday as Lanny Patrick Sack, 20, and Christopher J. McQuillan, 21. Authorities were searching Monday for the other two men, whose names were not released.

Multiple search agencies resumed their search at sunrise on Monday with no success. WDJT reports that the efforts have focused on the south side of mill pond. That is part of the Lake Beulah chain.

Nick Grunning has lived on the lake his whole life and told WDJT he knows better than to go into the water, which is normally frozen solid by now, "the water's freezing cold. Going to take your body temp out of your body in a matter of minutes and then you're gone."

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources spokesman Jason Roberts said alcohol was involved, but it's unclear if that was a factor in the accident. No personal floatation devices or life jackets were found in the water at the scene, he said.

Roberts said the water was extremely cold. Walworth County Sheriff Kurt Picknell said the cold weather and icy water were combining to make searching difficult.

Roberts described the accident as "a confluence of bad choices that ended rather tragically on this New Year's."

McQuillan's father told the Chicago Tribune that a relative of one of his son's friends called him Sunday to say Christopher McQuillan was missing. Joe McQuillan said he later learned his son was among the four men who disappeared in Wisconsin.

"He was just gone. He kind of slipped through our fingers like water," said McQuillen, who lives in Winnetka, Illinois. "But he knew he was loved."