Sheriff Lutz releases Additional Information in regards to Young Boy Drowning in Muskingum River

MUSKINGUM COUNTY, Ohio- Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz released more information following a 12-year-old boy who drowned over the weekend in the Muskingum River. 

12-year-old Ty Zgonc was with his mother Denise Gleba when he drowned Saturday night around 8:00 p.m. near Dresden.

He was found Sunday between 1:00 and 1:30 p.m. in the area that he was last seen.  They were from Elyria, Ohio and were visiting. 

“The report is the current started getting to them and started overtaking them. The mother and the child went under and the mother wasn’t able to locate him. She was able to get back to shore but couldn’t find the child,” Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz said.

Dresden Volunteer Fire Department was the first agency to receive the call. 

Auxiliary county deputy and volunteer of the Dresden Volunteer Fire Department Drake Prouty was the first to get in the water to try and locate the boy until the boats arrived. 

The search was called off that night due to darkness and resumed Sunday, when the boy was located. 

Lutz said Zgonc wasn’t believed to be wearing a life jacket. 

“The river is a whole different animal from any other kind of pond, lake or swimming pool. You don’t typically see a lot of folks swimming in the river. You see a lot of boat traffic, you see a lot of folks that will get out of the boat and they’ll spend time in the river that are familiar with it. I would say 9.9 times out of 10, they have a life jacket on,” Lutz said. “The river has an unbelievably strong current and an unbelievably strong undercurrent. It’s different depths in different areas. My personal opinion to anybody is that if you’re going to be in the river you should have a life jacket on.”

The case is still under investigation.