Another friend is gone...

Body found in Lake Manawa identified

CHAD NATION, Staff Writer, cnation@nonpareilonline.com

07/31/2008

The Council Bluffs Police Department released the name of a homeless man found dead at Lake Manawa State Park. Criminal Investigation Division Sgt. David Dawson said Wade A. Sechtem, 43, was found in 10-feet from the shore slumped over a partially submerged picnic table at 1:05 a.m. Thursday.

Preliminary autopsy reports issued Thursday and an ongoing investigation appear to suggest Sechtem drowned.

The body of a 42-year-old man was found at Lake Manawa State Park Thursday morning.
Council Bluffs police officers were called to the north side of the lake near the "old beach" area at 1:05 a.m., after an unresponsive man was found deceased in the water.

Criminal Investigation Division Sgt. Ray Mabbitt said the identity of the man would not be released until his family was notified of his death. Mabbitt said investigators believe the man was a transient.

Detectives are still investigating the death. Mabbitt said investigators have yet to determine if the death is suspicious in nature. An autopsy is scheduled today at the Iowa Medical Examiner's Office in Ankeny.

Mabbitt said there were no gunshot or stab wounds on the man's body, but he could not speculate on assault wounds.

"Right now, we have a death investigation," Mabbitt said. "Hopefully the autopsy will tell us more; whether it was merely a drowning or something else."

Mabbitt said investigators have talked with a man who found the body in the lake and a "couple" of people who were in the area when the body was discovered. Mabbitt described the man who found the body as a friend of the deceased.

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I don’t normally quote newspaper articles in this blog and I hope I’m not out of line here. But something is really bothering me tonight and this seems to be a way to sort through some things.
I was reading the paper this week and came across an article about a person drowning at a lake in Iowa. Just across the Missouri River in Council Bluffs. At Lake Manawa. A semi popular lake for boating, skiing, and whatever other water sports a person could imagine. So as I skim through the newspaper, I come across an article similar to the one above and I wonder to myself if I know this guy. I recognize the first name and wonder if it’s the Wade I know from downtown? Could it be? Nah. This guy wouldn’t be over at Lake Manawa. Would he? Last I knew, he was staying outdoors in a park downtown I believe. Surely this wasn’t the same guy.

I know a guy downtown by the name of Wade. Know him by first name only. I’ve known him for about a year now. Last summer, he started showing up pretty regularly. And I could tell he maybe wanted to get some help for his drinking problem. He seemed to have it pretty bad. So I gave him my number and told him to call anytime. If he ever wanted someone to help him get into a treatment facility, whatever. Just call me. Time went by and I only saw him on Sundays. But I saw him most every Sunday. And then one day I get a call at work from Wade. He wanted help. He’d checked himself into the Campus for Hope. A rehab center. So what did he want from me? He was already taking the steps to get himself back on track. And for clarity, I’d only known him for a short time back then. So he calls and needs help. Seems he left a few of his things in the park and wanted to know if I’d help him get them. Sure. We made arrangements to meet and we’d go to the park to get his things. I wrote a blog about this last summer. It was amazing to me. He had things stashed in the park in places that I would never have imagined. Yep me. Mr. Suburbanite. So I take him to the park and we gather his bags. Several of them. I swear it looked like he’d just gotten off an airplane for an extended stay at someone’s house. But there it was. Everything he owned in several duffel bags and suitcases. So we grab the bags and head back to the Campus for Hope. You see, he was on his way to a 3/4 Way House. He way on his way to whipping an addiction that had taken over his life. Caused him to live in parks, under bridges, in shelters. He was only a little over 40. How? How does that happen?!

So I don’t see Wade for a while and that was good. My assumption? He was one of the few who might make it out. But then a few months ago he reappears on our Sunday corner. In not so good shape. Apparently not at the 3/4 Way House any longer. Because he was feeling no pain. Now I use that phrase sometimes here to describe a friend we’ve met in our downtown activities. Feeling no pain. Well, that’s a pretty ridiculous phrase to use, especially in this case. Wade was in immense pain. Most every time I talked to him, he broke down. He knew he was in a storm of an addiction and he didn’t think he could beat it. Ever. Told me so many times. One of the last times I saw him, a few weeks ago, I offered to take him back to the Campus for Hope. He was ready to go and then talked himself out of it. And then last Wednesday night? He talked himself out of it once and for all.

Like I said, I read the article last week. Talked myself out of believing that it could be the Wade I knew. I mean, it just couldn’t be him, right?

Today, as I was making my way through the line where our friends once again have to wait to get a meal, I came across a few friends I hadn’t seen in a while. They had bad news. They had been "camping" over near the Old Beach at Lake Manawa. Several of them. Wade included. They had a picnic table submerged in the water, about 10 feet off the shore. They used it to dive off and just as a spot to stay cool in this God awful heat we’ve been having. Apparently Wade had been hitting it pretty hard lately. One of his buddies, Mike, even mentioned to him that he might want to take a "week off". Didn’t listen. Apparently he was hitting it pretty hard last Wednesday. He passed out on the picnic table. Drowned. So today, when they told me the news, I thought back to that Sunday when we were trying to get him into rehab. What if he’d gone? Would it have made a difference? Or would he have ended up in the same kind of predicament at a later time? Who knows? I’m just really wrestling with the fact that he’s gone. Every time I hear of one of our friends passing, I wonder why? Why does it have to happen? Why? Can’t we make a difference in a way that keeps these kinds of things from happening? Well, obviously not. I mean, what do we really have control over when it comes to these things? We can pray for a guy and do. We can offer to help in various ways, but a guy has to want help. Wade’s death seems like a big, fat waste of his young life to me. He was 42. Was it just his time? I don’t know. Seems like a pretty senseless and avoidable situation to me. But it happened.

As we were talking about it today, the fellas mentioned they had an impromptu memorial service at the lake for Wade. We prayed together today. One of the guys broke down pretty good as we were praying. The thing is, this was their buddy. He’s gone now. It has to hit home for them that this didn’t have to happen. I mean if it were God’s will, then I guess it is what it is. But I have to believe otherwise here. Just really bugs me that Wade is gone and no one could reach him to make a difference. A guy has to want it, but…

Peace and have a great and blessed week.

Rest in peace Wade…we’ll miss you buddy.

…it matters to that one… :(