14 DAY TRIAL // Former college quarterback Cullen Finnerty has been found dead after disappearing on a fishing trip on Sunday, May 26.
30-year-old Finnerty, who played for Grand Valley State, was on a riverboat on his own when he went missing on Sunday night.
According to USA Today, he went fishing on the Baldwin River in the Baldwin area, and he was staying at his family's cabin in Bray State Forest.
"It was a nice night on Sunday and we thought, 'There is a nice stretch of the river,' and he got himself one of those boats, and he had been practicing on it. It's a riverboat, a raft, " father-in-law Dan Brink recalls.
Before going missing, Finnerty called his wife and alerted her of the fact that his life was in danger. Police and volunteer search crews were called in to find the former player.
"We were walking a good line. [...] I squatted down. We had seen some trail. And a girl shouted. She walked right up on it. I thought, 'Oh no,'" Scott Boyd, a member of the search party describes finding him dead.
At this point there is no evidence of foul play, but officials are yet to identify the cause of death.
"There was nothing obvious to us, to the view, of anything that would have caused his death," Lake County Sheriff Robert Hilts says.
He was wearing fishing gear and his remains were uncovered half-a-mile (0.8 km) from the spot where he went fishing.
"It's very chilling. He led me to a national championship as a true freshman, and when I left Coach (Chuck) Martin took over and won two more national championships.
"My heart goes out to the family and his beautiful wife, we're just praying and hoping and sending all of our thoughts wishes to the family," former Grand Valley coach Brian Kelly states.