Deputies identified the victim as 17-year-old Eduardo Duarte after a search that stretched from Monday afternoon into Wednesday.
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — A 17-year-old boy was found dead after a canoe carrying four teenagers capsized on Lake Jessamine in Orlando, ending a search that began Monday afternoon when the boat overturned during worsening weather, sheriff’s officials said.
Deputies identified the teen as Eduardo Duarte. His death closed the most urgent part of a rescue effort that drew sheriff’s marine units, Orange County Fire Rescue crews, boats, divers and aircraft to the lake near the 5500 block of Lake Jessamine Lane. Investigators said the case remains open until final autopsy results are returned, though detectives now believe Duarte’s death was an accidental drowning. The immediate focus has shifted from search operations to reconstructing how the canoe took on water and why one of the four teens was not able to make it back to shore.
According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were sent to the lake at about 1:05 p.m. Monday after a report of a capsized canoe. Four teens had gone out on the water when the boat overturned. Three were rescued, but Duarte could not be found as crews began scanning the lake and shoreline. The search continued through Monday night and into Tuesday, with helicopters overhead and boats working near homes and docks around the shoreline. News crews and neighbors described a tense scene as family members and friends waited nearby for word. By Wednesday, officials announced that Duarte’s body had been recovered, ending nearly two days of uncertainty for relatives and classmates who had watched the search unfold from land and through local news updates.
Investigators said they were told the canoe took on water because of weather conditions before it capsized. That detail has become a central piece of the early timeline because storms moved through Central Florida on Monday and weather alerts warned of strong winds and severe thunderstorms in the area. Officials have not publicly said whether the teens were wearing life jackets, how far from shore they were when the boat overturned or which of the four was seated where. Authorities also have not described whether anyone on shore saw the canoe go over. What has been confirmed is that sheriff’s deputies and fire rescue crews searched for hours, and that the missing teen was not found during the first night. As the operation carried into Tuesday, divers focused on sections of the lake while crews also checked the shoreline, trying to narrow the area where Duarte might be.
Lake Jessamine sits in a heavily developed part of Orange County, bordered by neighborhoods, homes, docks and public access points. FOX 35, citing county environmental data, reported that the lake covers about 294 acres and averages roughly 11 to 16 feet deep. A neighbor interviewed by ClickOrlando said some parts can reach 20 to 30 feet, while the area where the canoe appeared to flip looked closer to 10 feet. Those changing depths may help explain why the search stretched over two days instead of ending Monday. The emergency response also unfolded in a place where residents are used to calm recreational use of the water, which made the sight of helicopters, rescue boats and flashing lights especially jarring. Neighbors told local outlets it was one of the most upsetting incidents they could remember on the lake in recent years.
Authorities have not announced any criminal charges, and none are expected based on what has been released so far. Instead, the case remains under routine investigation while detectives wait for autopsy findings. That means several questions are still unresolved: whether weather alone caused the canoe to swamp, whether the boat was overloaded or unstable, and whether any other physical evidence from the scene will change investigators’ view of what happened. Officials have already said they believe the drowning was accidental, but that assessment is preliminary until the medical examiner’s work is complete. The sheriff’s office has not set a public date for any additional briefing. The next formal milestone is likely the return of the autopsy report, which could confirm the cause and manner of death and close out the case unless new facts emerge.
The search also left a mark beyond the lake itself. Spectrum News reported that the principal of Forest Lake Academy in Apopka confirmed the missing teen was a student there. He said a vigil was held Monday evening at Forest Lake Seventh-day Adventist Church as family members, friends and supporters gathered while the search continued. The principal also said three junior class students and one former student were in the canoe when it overturned. That detail added a school community to the list of people waiting for answers. Neighbors who saw the teens before they entered the water said the group was carrying the canoe by hand and appeared to be struggling with it. Dylan Alpert, who lives nearby, told ClickOrlando he had “a bad feeling” as they went out. Another nearby resident called the accident “really shocking,” capturing the reaction from a community that watched a normal afternoon turn into a recovery operation.
The case now stands at a painful but clearer point: Eduardo Duarte has been found, detectives are treating the death as an accidental drowning pending autopsy results, and the remaining official update is expected when the medical examiner’s findings are complete.
Author note: Last updated 2026-03-18.