ORWELL — Police late last week positively identified the bodies pulled from Lake Champlain as those of the two Vermont men who went missing on Feb. 9 when they went snowmobiling across the lake.
Vermont State Police said positive identification had been made of Jonathan Ryan, 32, of Orwell, and Brandon Barrett, 23, of Benson.
Ryan and Barrett were reported missing on Thursday, Feb. 9. Friends found their truck and trailer parked at Benson Landing, where Vermont State Police said the two men rode snowmobiles onto the lake late in the day to go to a restaurant in Ticonderoga, N.Y.
State police from Vermont and New York deployed divers to search the waters off Putnam Station, N.Y. They found Ryan’s and Barrett’s snowmobiles and articles of clothing on Sunday, Barrett’s body on Wednesday and Ryan on Thursday.
Both men were experienced snowmobilers with knowledge of the lake, police said.
A celebration of the life of Jonathan Ryan will be held on Tuesday, 11 a.m., at American Legion Post 55 in Brandon. Funeral services for Brandon Barrett were not set by the Friday deadline for this edition.