[Paddlewise] Lake Superior Kayaker Update: Suicide

The kayaker whose body was found last week (Douglas Winter) now has an
official cause of death: gunshot to the head. As bizarre as this sounds, the
inquest reports that there was a receipt in Winter's car that showed that a
handgun was purchased recently and there was evidence that the handgun had
been in the car but taken out when the car was left. And an autopsy revealed
the gunshot wound.

Winter was last heard from around 8:40pm on October 19th when he reported
being offshore on Lake Superior and out of sight of land. His kayak was
found washed up on a beach the next day and his body was recovered almost
three weeks later. Information about the gun was withheld from the public
until the autopsy.

There had been some speculation on suicide when it was discovered that he
had sent letters containing money to some friends and relatives.

Sounds like a tragic story to me.


Craig Jungers
Moses Lake, WA
www.nwkayaking.net
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