The body of an unidentified man was found in Tempe Town Lake Wednesday by the ASU club rowing team, but Tempe police officials said he was probably not an ASU student.
An ASU rowing coach called ASU DPS at 6:15 a.m. after he found the body of a man in his mid-20s, said Tempe Police Sgt. Dan Masters.
Masters said he didn't know the name of the coach.
The body was tangled in rope floating in the lake near the Rural Road bridge, Masters said. The rope, suspended by a buoy, marks lanes for rowers using the lake.
Masters said police believe they have figured out the man's identity, but cannot release his name until his family members have been notified.
Masters said the body had been there about two or three days, but was intact and not badly decomposed.
Interdisciplinary studies senior Tiffany Hershberger, a member of the ASU rowing club, said she was in a boat that came within inches of the body.
Hershberger said she didn't see the body, but thinking about the body being there for a few days was "really creepy."
"If I think about it, it makes me nervous," Hershberger said. "The fact is, we're on that lake every morning."
Another one of the team's boats actually bumped against the body, she added.
Masters said he didn't know exactly, where the man was from, but both he and his family were from "out of the Valley."
Masters said he thought the death looked like either an accidental drowning or a suicide, but an autopsy -- to be conducted today -- and toxicology reports must be completed to determine what happened. No signs of foul play were found at the scene, Masters said.
The body had floated to the surface and was partially dressed in boots and shorts, but had no form of identification, Masters said.
Masters said police have managed to tentatively identify the man by searching for possible leads in missing-person files and will confirm his identity by talking with his family and comparing his fingerprints with prints on file.
Kris Baxter, a spokeswoman for Tempe Town Lake, said the city is setting up a counseling session in November for all of the people who were on the lake at the time the body was found, including 75 independent rowers and the Tempe and ASU rowing teams.
"We are sorry that this tragedy has happened," Baxter said. "Hopefully, the impact of this will be that we will continue to take as many safety precautions as possible."
Masters said two previous deaths have occurred in the lake.
The first death occurred in 2002. A drunken man allegedly left Club Rio and visited the lake, at which point he either jumped or fell into the water, Masters said.
The second death occurred in June when a man allegedly tried to jump off of a bridge and into the shallow water below, Masters said.
"Witnesses saw him jump off and try to swim to the other side," Masters said. "At its deepest, [the lake] is 19 feet. When people jump off a bridge or an abatement, they usually hit something."
