Town manager dies after saving 4-year-old son from drowning in icy pond
By Paradise Afshar and Joe Sutton, CNN
(CNN) — The town manager of Carmel, Maine, has died after saving his 4-year-old son from drowning in an icy pond.
Kevin Howell, 51, and his son were crossing a portion of Etna Pond around 6:30 a.m. Friday when they broke through the ice, the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office said in a social media post.
Howell was able to get his son out of the icy water and sent him to find his mother at their home, roughly one third of a mile from the pond, the sheriff’s office said.
“The boy ran home, and notified his mother,” the sheriff’s office said. “The mom told the young boy to stay at home, she called 911, and she rushed to help her husband. On her way, she grabbed an anchor and rope and ran down to the water.”
While she was attempting to rescue her husband, Howell’s wife, Katie, fell through the ice herself and was unable to get out of the water, the sheriff’s office said.
Around that time, Penobscot County Sheriff Detective Jordan Norton arrived on scene and began crawling across the ice to rescue Katie, the sheriff’s office said. He was able to pull her out of the water.
But there was no trace of Howell.
“Detective Norton got the mom back to the house and reunited with her son,” the sheriff’s office said.
Other first responders arrived at the scene and a team was able to locate Howell in the water in the afternoon. Divers with the state’s fisheries and wildlife division recovered Howell’s body.
Howell and his wife moved to Carmel, about 50 miles northeast of the state capital, Augusta, in 2014, and their son, Sawyer, was born in 2019, according to a Town of Carmel webpage.
Howell enjoyed cooking for his family and friends and spending time with his wife and son outdoors, doing actives like skiing, boating, fishing and hiking, the webpage said.
CNN has reached out to Carmel officials for comment.
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CNN’s Lauren Mascarenhas contributed to this report.
