Tethered to a 100-foot rope, State Police divers yesterday searched the waters of a frozen upstate lake for the body of clubgoing beauty Laura Garza.
A shotgun found near the banks of Orange County’s Lake Echo is unrelated to Garza’s disappearance, officials said.
The divers plunged into the frigid water in rotating shifts, each swinging in pendulum-like motions to cover a broad area. They had to use chainsaws to cut through the 4-inch ice, which is near prime suspect Michael Mele’s Wallkill home, the Times Herald-Record reported.
Sources told the paper that the search was not based on a specific tip, but on the proximity of the lake to Mele’s apartment.
Mele, a registered sex offender, was the last person seen with Garza on Dec. 3 after the two left the Manhattan club Marquee and drove upstate with a friend of his. They later dropped the friend off in Newburgh.
Cops also made a new search of Mele’s apartment.