Law enforcement officers in Montgomery County recovered the bodies of two drowning victims in a pair of unrelated mishaps in Montgomery County during the weekend.

Sheriff Robert Dierks said the body of 31-year-old Billie D. Lukens of Coffeyville was recovered from the Shell Beach area at Elk City Lake on Saturday afternoon. Friends who were with Lukens said the Coffeyville woman went under the water’s surface at Shell Beach and did not resurface.

Lukens’ body was recovered from the water, and resuscitation efforts began immediately. Lukens could not be revived, and she was pronounced dead at Mercy Hospital.

Dierks said that after a preliminary investigation on Saturday, alcohol may have likely been involved. An autopsy was requested.

Less than 24 hours later, those same law enforcement officers were summoned to the Verdigris River in Independence to recover the body of a person who was tethered in a kayak. Independence police chief Kenneth Parker said Thomas Wells, 36, of Independence was tethered to a kayak when it went over the Independence low water dam. The kayak got caught in a churning current that prohibited Wells from being pulled out of a rolling motion.

Wells’ body was eventually recovered shortly before 3 p.m. He was wearing a life preserver when his body was recovered from the river.