By Kathleen Chapman
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 17, 2006
UPDATED: 8:13 p.m. June 17, 2006
A West Palm Beach man who disappeared in the Everglades was found dead Saturday.
William Thornton, 21, was boating with his uncle just south of the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge Friday afternoon when they had trouble with their airboat.
While Danny Thornton worked on the boat, William started walking through the muck to get help, Broward Sheriff's Office spokesman Neil Birenbaum said.
Danny Thornton was able to call a relative to help with the boat. But they could not find William, Birenbaum said.
Several rescue agencies searched the Everglades by flat boat, airboat and helicopter, looking for him through the night near the Palm Beach County line, Birenbaum said. Many of Thornton's relatives and friends also joined the search.
Just before 11 a.m. Saturday, relatives looking for him in a mud buggy found the body.
He was about 3 miles from the boat ramp at the end of Loxahatchee Road, where the two men put in. He seemed to have simply collapsed from heat or exhaustion, Birenbaum said.
Thornton, whom most people called Willie, grew up in West Palm Beach. He was the youngest child of a big family who all loved the outdoors, said his aunt Merna Gaydos.
He was raised on airboats, dirt bikes and four-wheelers, she said: "From the time he was 2 years old in training pants, the boy was out in the woods."
Thornton loved to play with toy cars as a little boy, she said. And as he got older, he learned to work with motors. He could cheer up anyone who was sad, Gaydos said: "He was just a wonderful kid."
Thornton loved hunting, fishing and frogging, and went out on the airboat with his uncle whenever he got the chance, she said.
But even experienced boaters can get disoriented in the Everglades, where shallow trails of water wind through stands of sawgrass taller than a man's head.
Finding your way is difficult by boat and almost impossible on foot, Birenbaum said. "It's not an easy place to survive."
This is very, very sad and unfortunate. Hopefully, his friend will feel better and recover, and his family will feel better after a while.
