Body recovered from B.C. lake after unclothed man leads investigators to crash site

An RCMP patch is seen on the shoulder of Assistant Commissioner Brian Edwards, Officer in Charge of the Surrey RCMP, during a news conference about the city's municipal police force transition, in Surrey, B.C., on Friday, April 28, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Mounties are investigating a fatal crash north of Whistler, B.C., after an unclothed man who was found along the side of the road led police to a pickup truck submerged in a lake with one occupant still inside.

The Lillooet-Lytton RCMP say officers were called to check on the man on the side of Lillooet Pioneer Road 40 around 10:15 p.m. on Sept. 7.

While police were on the way to his location, they received an update that a passerby had picked him up and taken him to a nearby resort lodge.

At the lodge, the man said he had been in a single-vehicle crash and the vehicle ended up in Carpenter Lake with one occupant still believed to be inside.

First responders conducted extensive patrols of the lake through the night and eventually located a "small debris field" but no sign of a vehicle, the local RCMP said in a statement Monday.

An RCMP dive team was called to the scene the following day and found the black Dodge Ram pickup in the lake with one person dead inside.

Investigators say the family of the deceased have been notified and the vehicle has been removed from the water.

Police continue to investigate the cause of the crash.