July 06, 2020
Street View/Google
Crystal Lake was one of several bodies of water that formed as a result of extensive mining which took place in Manchester Township, Ocean County.
A 23-year-old North Jersey man drowned in a lake on a former mining property in Ocean County during the July Fourth weekend.
Edwin Caballero, from Plainfield, Union County, went missing between after 5 p.m. Saturday and was reported to have been last seen near the shoreline of Crystal Lake in Manchester Township, police said Monday. Family members were not immediately sure if Caballero had returned to the water, where he had spent most of the day, or went into the wooded area near the lake.
Police and local fire departments reported to the scene Saturday night to search the area for the man, but Caballero could not be located.
The search concluded Sunday morning when New Jersey State Police found Caballero’s body submerged 16 feet deep in Crystal Lake. Investigators have determined that his death was an accidental drowning.
Anyone who may have witnessed Caballero in the water at Crystal Lake should contact the Manchester Township Police or the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.
Plainfield Man Tragically Drowns in Lake on Heritage Mineral Property A visit to a popular privately-owned 7000-acre...
Posted by Manchester Police on Monday, July 6, 2020
Crystal Lake is on a privately-owned, 7,000-acre piece of land that formerly operated as a mining site until the 1980s, Manchester Township police said.
So much mining was conducted on the property that it formed numerous lakes across the property's landscape. Unlike naturally occuring bodies of water, these lakes do not have natural shorelines or stable bottoms.
The depths of most of the lakes on the property exceed 60 feet, while the largest lake on the property is believed to be as deep as 300 feet.
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