Man’s body found floating in North Ski Area is identified

Jason Eilola-Coye

It appears the man whose unclothed deceased body was found floating in Canyon Lake on Sunday has been identified. According to a Facebook post by Murrieta resident Diana Hart, Lake Elsinore Sheriff’s Department officials contacted her Monday night to inform her that her missing grandson, Jason Eilola-Coye, was found deceased in the lake.

Jason, she said in her post and according to a missing-person flyer, was last seen in Perris. The Sheriff’s Department, as of The Friday Flyer’s Thursday deadline, had no additional information.

The deceased body was found by a local fisherman Sunday floating in the lake near the North Ski Area off Vacation Drive near Old Wrangler Road. The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department responded to the location and its investigators have assumed the investigation. They confirmed on Monday the death was suspicious according to reporting officer Sergeant Adam Heard.

A male’s deceased body was found floating in this general area in the lake near the North Ski Parking area on Sunday. The death is being categorized as suspicious by the Sheriff’s Department. The identity of the man has not been released, police said earlier this week. Photo provided by Canyon Lake POA

Diana, in her Facebook post, said Jason had been living in Lake Elsinore, but had been in Menifee and, most recently, in Perris. He had been missing since Feb. 28. She had made a missing person report with the Menifee Police Department.

“We do not have any answers at this time and will be taking a few days to process this as a family,” Diana said in her post Monday night. “Please keep us in your thoughts. I will update as the investigation unfolds.”

Investigators have not yet released the identification of the deceased man. The body was found near the North Ski Area parking lot dock. Authorities spent time there as part of the investigation.

After a man’s deceased body was found floating in the lake in the North Ski Area, several police vehicles and other emergency personnel responded. The North Causeway was temporarily closed. Photo provided by Canyon Lake POA

“This is an active investigation and no additional details are currently available,” Sergeant Heard said early this week. “The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department encourages anyone with information regarding this incident to contact Investigator Chris Poznanski at the Lake Elsinore Sheriff’s Station at (951) 245-3300.”

This death is the third apparent drowning (or body found in the lake) in Canyon Lake in the last six months. Pablo Lopez, a 21-year-old man from Los Angeles, drowned while swimming in the North Ski Area in October. On Dec. 9, an elderly woman apparently fell off a dock at her house on Fair Weather Drive and drowned.