Maine Wardens Recover Body Believed to Be Missing Quebec Man

Wardens have recovered a body from a northern Maine lake believed to be that of a 67-year-old Quebec man who went missing last November.

A Maine Warden Service pilot was surveying ice conditions Tuesday morning when he spotted the body on Umbazooksus Lake, according to Cpl. John MacDonald.  The pilot had also been scanning the area for signs of Renald Poulin of Saint-Côme, Quebec.

Poulin had crossed into Maine on November 26 but failed to return home the following day as expected. Wardens conducted an extensive search until deep snow and frigid temperatures forced the search to be suspended in mid-December.

On Tuesday afternoon, game wardens arrived on the lake with watercraft to retrieve the body, which was located about two miles northwest of Umbazooksus Dam.  The body will be taken to the state medical examiner’s office in Augusta  for positive identification.

Cpl. MacDonald said, “The Maine Warden Service has been in contact with the family of Mr. Poulin since the search began last November, and we are hopeful the family will now have closure.”

When search efforts were suspended in December, as many as 22 game wardens, 18 members of the Maine Association of Search and Rescue, four Maine Forest Rangers, and members of the Civil Air Patrol  were involved in the search.