Missing Kayak Found in South Milwaukee; West Bend Kayaker still Missing

A man in South Milwaukee found on March 28 the kayak that went missing on March 16 with its passenger in Port Washington.

According to Port Washington Police, a man was walking along the beach at Grant Park in South Milwaukee and discovered the kayak buried in sand.

He called Port Washington Police and they recovered the kayak.

The kayak belonged to Marcus Beilman who has been missing since March 16.

The Ozaukee County Sheriff’s office says two West Bend brothers, 24-year-old Kevin R. Beilman, and 27-year-old Marcus J. Beilman, 27, left from  Port Washington's South Beach for an afternoon of kayaking in Lake Michigan.   Winds were recorded as high as 30 MPH and waves were 5- to 8-feet high.  At some point, Marcus Beilman’s kayak overturn in the high wind and waves.  Kevin Beilman lost sight of his brother and the kayak.   Kevin Beilman was able to swim to shore at Port Washington’s Coal Dock Park.   The Ozaukee County Sheriff’s office was contacted and when Kevin Beilman was located, he was suffering from exposure that required treatment at a local hospital.

When Beilman reported that his brother was missing in the lake, the Port Washington Fire Department was contacted and a search began for the missing kayaker.  The U.S. Coast Guard was notified and a 45-foot response boat from Sheboygan was dispatched to join in the search.  A helicopter aircrew from Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City, Michigan, was also launched to assist by searching from the air.

A sheriff's department boat crew conducted a shoreline search near the area where the men launched their kayaks and a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources fixed-wing aircraft was called on to assist with the search.