The Franklin County Sheriff';s Department and the Franklin County Coroner';s office were notified of a possible drowning over the weekend.
Franklin County Coroner, Marty Leffler was notified at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, May 26, of an 18-year-old male that was pronounced dead at the Franklin Hospital emergency room at 6:27 p.m. from a drowning at a farm pond on private property north of Thompsonville.
Matthew W. Kuhns of Mulkeytown had been working with friends on a dock over a private pond. The young men decided to jump in the pond to cool off. The two witnesses at the scene said that when Matthew Kuhns surfaced from jumping in the pond from the dock, he seemed to be struggling. When the witness got to Kuhns he had already gone under water and could not be located. The other witness went to call 911.
The call came in at 4:38 p.m. and authorities arrived at the scene located on North Thompsonville Road, where they started searching in the pond for Kuhns. His body was recovered by Franklin County Search and Rescue Dive Team members along with the assistance of the Benton Fire Department and Cave-Eastern Township Fire Department at 5:42 p.m. after being underwater for almost an hour.
CPR was started, and Kuhns was transported by Abbott';s EMS to the Franklin Hospital emergency room, where ER staff continued CPR and tried life-saving efforts, but were to no avail. Kuhns was pronounced as deceased in the Franklin Hospital emergency room.
Toxicology along with x-rays and CT scans were ordered by Leffler, but no results are available at this time.
The Morton & Johnston Funeral Home in Benton is in charge of funeral arrangements.
