Game wardens with the Maine Warden Service responded to Ellis Pond in Roxbury on Saturday
Drowning Incident on Ellis Pond
Game wardens with the Maine Warden Service responded to Ellis Pond in Roxbury on Saturday afternoon following emergency calls reporting a missing kayaker. According to wardens, Noyes was kayaking with family members when he fell out of his kayak into the water. Eyewitnesses observed him attempting to swim toward a nearby island before he submerged beneath the surface minutes later and failed to resurface. Emergency search-and-rescue personnel launched immediate water search operations, recovering his unoccupied kayak and an unattached life jacket on Saturday evening.
Recovery Operations and Official Investigation
Dive teams and game wardens resumed search efforts on Sunday morning, locating and recovering Noyes’s body from Ellis Pond on Sunday afternoon, October 11. Officials with the Maine Warden Service confirmed that Noyes was not wearing a personal flotation device (PFD) at the time he fell into the water. State wardens and local authorities have opened a standard boating incident inquiry to establish the precise environmental conditions and water safety factors involved in the drowning.
Community Reaction and Memorial Support
News of Noyes’s death at age 20 has brought profound sorrow to his family, friends, and residents across Oxford County. Community members continue to extend prayers and expressions of sympathy to his loved ones during this time of grief. Information regarding formal visitation hours, celebration-of-life services, and family memorial arrangements will be announced by family representatives and local funeral directors once finalized.
