Divers find body of Kansas City woman who went missing Sunday in Smithville Lake

Divers from the Missouri State Highway Patrol on Monday found the body of a woman who went missing after she dove from a boat into Smithville Lake and didn’t resurface, a spokesman said.

The body of the 30 year-old woman, believed to be from the Kansas City area, was found around around 12:45 p.m. Monday in the same area where she went missing Sunday afternoon.

Rescuers looked for her Sunday into the evening, and suspended the search as night fell. They resumed the search at about 7:30 a.m. Monday. Divers used sonar and other equipment to locate the woman’s body and retrieve it from the water.

Sgt. Bill Lowe, a spokesman for the Missouri Highway Patrol’s Troop A, said the woman was not found wearing a life jacket.

The woman, who will be identified by officials later in the afternoon, was believed to be in the boat with relatives and friends when she dove into the water.

The vessel she was in struck an underwater object as it was slowly moving to a boat ramp near the Collins Road Bridge, the highway patrol said.

“We just know that as they were bringing the boat in, because they had some trouble, they hit something underneath, so they were kind of limping the boat into the boat ramp,” Lowe said. “And then another object came off the boat, and she dove in to get it, and she didn’t come up.”

Her family has been notified that highway patrol found the body.

Officials are waiting for results of the autopsy as part of the investigation to determine cause of death.