Ventura County Star
Search teams found the body of Anatoly (Naftoli) Smolyansky in Lake Piru on Monday, a week after he jumped into the water after his daughter and drowned.

Smolyansky, 39, of Los Angeles, and his family were in a boat on Lake Piru on the evening of Aug. 25 when his 5-year-old daughter fell overboard. Witnesses said he jumped in to rescue her and sank into the water as he was pushing her back toward the boat. He was presumed dead shortly afterward.

Man’s Body Found After 1-week Search

Ventura County Star

Search teams found the body of Anatoly (Naftoli) Smolyansky in Lake Piru on Monday, a week after he jumped into the water after his daughter and drowned.

Smolyansky, 39, of Los Angeles, and his family were in a boat on Lake Piru on the evening of Aug. 25 when his 5-year-old daughter fell overboard. Witnesses said he jumped in to rescue her and sank into the water as he was pushing her back toward the boat. He was presumed dead shortly afterward.

Rescue divers and sonar teams from police and fire agencies all over Southern California, along with about 100 volunteers, searched 13 hours a day for Smolyansky’s body, according to a statement released Monday by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

About 11:30 a.m. on Monday, the body was found by a group of Lake Piru rangers and Ventura County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue divers.

Ventura County Sheriff’s Department officials told his family Monday afternoon that his body has been discovered.

12 Comments

  • boruch hoffinger

    B”H
    Very sorry to hear the sad news.
    Hamokom Yenachem eschem Besoch Shaar Avaylay Tzion VeYerushalayim.

  • simintov

    He was boating with his 3 children and they are ok. Physically.

    I’m told that after a week of searching through a very mucky, muddy lake they tried something else.
    A challah was baked and a hole made within. A candle was set inside and sent to float out on the water. When it stopped, a rock was thrown in at that spot. Then they waited for the body to come up. It did two hours later. Apparently it is said that the body rises using this method it must be retrieved immediately or the body will sink again.

    Does anyone know anything about this technique and where it comes from?

  • mendy

    (He was swimming to rescue his daghter who flote far and he wouldnt be able to swimm properly with a life jacket to get her)

  • LA searcher

    A HUGE Yasher Koiach to Los Angeles Hatzolah for coordinating the massive search effort by the nearly 200 Los Angeles community members each day.

  • borninLA

    simintov wrote:…
    Does anyone know anything about this technique and where it comes from?

    It is from the Avnei Nezer brought in a sefer “Segulos Yisroel”. 10 rabbonim from LA went to the lake 5 AM on Monday and carried out the segula. The body was not found in the area that they did it in. I can’t tell u what works, however when he fell into the lake, the rangers said it takes on average 7-14 days for a body to come up, which occurs due to bacterias converting to gas which causes flotation.

    May Hashem have rachmonus on klal yisroel and we should never know of such tragedies.