Boy, 16, who drowned in lake near Smokey Point is identified

SMOKEY POINT — Chance Vanvalkenburgh is the teen who drowned in a lake this week near Smokey Point, the Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office said Wednesday.

The 16-year-old from Everett didn’t make it to shore while he was swimming with a friend around 2 p.m. Tuesday in one of the Gissberg Twin Lakes. Witnesses told police he got caught in weeds as he swam.

Search crews found his body about an hour later. On Wednesday, the medical examiner’s office confirmed the boy drowned and ruled the death an accident.

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