The body of Dr. Robert McDonald, a hospitalist from St. Joseph Medical Center in Polson, was found by Lake County Search and Rescue personnel on Friday afternoon. 

Lake County Sheriff's Office Public Information Officer Karen Sargent said the body was first spotted by a helicopter.

"We managed to find Dr. McDonald's body yesterday afternoon at about 2:45 p.m." Sargent said. "Two Bears search helicopter spotted him from the air, he was floating on the surface of the water. We had the two Lake County search boats and the Flathead County search boat out all day on the lake. They went over to the pinpointed location and retrieved the body out of the water."

Sargent said McDonald's body had drifted for some distance from where he embarked in his kayak on July 19.

"His body was found due south of Big Bull Island in what we call the narrows which is where Polson Bay goes into the lake," she said. "It was quite a ways north of where he embarked in his kayak at the Bear Harbor condos."

Sargent said the Lake County Sheriff's Office wanted to thank Lake County Search and Rescue, Swan Search and Rescue, Avon canine search dogs, the Flathead County Sheriff's Office Marine Unit, Alert helicopter, Two Bears search helicopter, along with all the citizens that had been searching the lake since Dr. McDonald's disappearance.

Sargent said Dr. McDonald's body has been sent to the Montana State Crime Lab in Missoula to determine the exact cause of death.

Lake County Sheriff's Office Public Information Officer Karen Sargent

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