Bell County Sheriff’s deputies and Texas Parks and Wildlife game wardens began an investigation into the disappearance of the 52-year-old man after a witness reported seeing him fall over the side of his fishing boat into the lake sometime after 6:50 a.m. Sunday.

Rolly Correa, game warden major for Texas Parks & Wildlife Department Region IX, said he is in charge of the recovery effort. He said the Bell County Sheriff’s Department is the lead investigator in the case.

“It’s my understanding investigators found the boat run aground at a sandy point about .23 miles west of the public beach and about 1.13 miles as the crow flies from where he launched at the (Stillhouse) marina,” Correa said. “However the boat would have traveled further than that over water to get to where it beached.”

Correa said he was told somebody was with Richardson in the boat and they had a dog with them.

Correa said he was also told that when Richardson fell overboard his companion tried to swim out to him but was unsuccessful in making a rescue.

Kimberly Richardson, the missing man’s wife, waited Monday at the Stillhouse Marina waiting for any word on the disappearance of her husband.

She said he left their Killeen home to go fishing at 3 a.m. Sunday.

“He called me on his cell phone at 6:50 a.m. to tell me he had launched his boat from the public launch next to the marina and was on his way to fish,” she said. “It was sometime after that phone call he went missing.”

Mrs. Richardson said she was told sheriff’s deputies had pulled the boat from the water onto its trailer and it was impounded for the duration of the investigation.

Dan Payne of Killeen, a family friend with her at the marina, said Richardson’s boat is a 21-foot Century fishing craft.

“A Century is a heavy, beamy boat that is stable in rough water and not likely to capsize,” Payne said.

Winds were reported at 25-30 mph Sunday with gusts to 40 mph.

He said Richardson’s fishing companion is someone Richardson has known for a long time who goes by his biker name - Lurch. He said he did not know Lurch’s whereabouts.

Payne said authorities told him that the boat was found adrift at an unspecified time out of gas and with the batteries dead.

He said he didn’t believe Richardson would launch the boat on low batteries and almost no gas.

“The boat could have been idling until they found it,” he said. “It uses a lot of gas and it could run dry idling.

Payne said he had worked with Richardson in the past at R&M Machine Shop and the two had become close friends.

“He would give you the shirt off his back,” Payne said. “He was a real nice fellow. You would really like him if you met him.”

Correa said search parties on foot covered the beach from the marina to the public beach and an all terrain vehicle had gone all the way to Dana Peak Park. He said boats have plied the waters in the same area.

The wind that had blown out of the southeast Sunday reversed itself Monday and came out of the north and northwest with winds between 25-30 mph gusting to 40 mph, he said.

Correa said no debris has been found that can be linked to Richardson.

“We’ve been looking at the winds and we’ve been trying to find any debris, any clothing that would help us tie in the angle of the wind,” said Correa. “It would help us have an idea where to focus our search besides just focusing on where they found the boat. We don’t know if he drove the boat or if he went from point “A” to point “B” and then ran out of gas. We just don’t know yet.”

Correa said he has been worried about the safety of his search parties. He estimates the water temperature somewhere in the 50s.

“They flew out a helicopter yesterday searching the banks and the island and stuff just in case he had gone to shore,” Correa said. “They didn’t find anything and our guys have made I don’t know how many passes along the banks and gotten soaked.”

Correa said he would welcome a helicopter again if the weather were not so severe.

“Not in this weather,” he said. “We would not put the crews in jeopardy for a recovery operation.”

Search operations will commence again today as weather permits.