Nisswa woman dies in apparent lake drowning

NISSWA -- The body of a 34-year-old Nisswa woman was found Monday afternoon in Lower Cullen Lake. The woman apparently drowned.

Jacqueline Kaye Lizakowski was found at 4:44 p.m. floating face down about 450 yards north of the public access in about 6 feet of water by an angler, said Neal Gaalswyk, Crow Wing County Sheriff's Department boat and water safety supervisor.

"We're treating it as accidental death from an apparent drowning," Gaalswyk said today. Lizakowski's body was transported to the Crow Wing County Coroner's Office for an autopsy.

Foul play is not suspected in the incident. Gaalswyk said a witness reported seeing a woman matching Lizakowski's description swimming in the water at 9 a.m.

"That's the last we know anyone saw her," Gaalswyk said.

At about 3 p.m. Monday the Crow Wing County Sheriff's Department received a call from an individual who had been backtrolling on Lower Cullen Lake and had come across the victim, Gaalswyk said.

The Crow Wing County Dive Team and the Nisswa Police Department began the initial search, and Lizakowski's body was eventually located just under the surface of the water by an AW Research plane.

Lizakowski's car was found parked at the public access. It was unknown what Lizakowski was doing in the water. She was fully clothed and there is no swimming area, or swimming allowed, at the public access on Lower Cullen Lake.

The apparent drowning is the first in the Brainerd area in 2001.