TOWN OF POYGAN, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department has identified the couple in a quarry accident as Alissa and Lucas Bartels.
Deputies say a friend found them at the bottom of a quarry in the Town of Poygan Monday afternoon.
We’re told the couple had been at a nearby business when they went for a walk near the quarry on County Road D west of Winneconne.
New details came from the 911 call released to FOX 11 Tuesday by authorities.
“I have two friends that I believe have fallen in a quarry behind the Hill Bar on County Road D, in Winnebago County,” the caller said.
Alissa and Lucas Bartels left The Hill Tavern around 3 p.m. Monday.
“We think they slid down the hill, and they need help,” said the caller.
Deputies say they walked to the top of the quarry, before falling 40 to 50 feet.
Lieutenant Chris Braman of the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department tells FOX 11 it is unknown, at this time, what the two were doing out there.
“It was just the two of them out there. The most that we know is that they were walking behind the business, and then when people went to look for them, they heard them yelling from the bottom of the quarry.”
In the 911 call, the caller says the couple was unresponsive.
“They’re not responding. They said they need help, and I have no way to get to them. They’re off of a sheer cliff!”
A friend of the Oshkosh couple found them at the bottom of the quarry, which is mostly rock and gravel.
“I think they slid down the hill together, and they are not in good shape. It’s a long ways down,” said the caller.
Braman says the Bartels weren’t familiar with the area.
“The area, itself, is kind of deceiving. It looks like a kinda grassy area, and then there’s some grade to that, and that’s about twenty to thirty feet of grassy area, and then it drops off completely.”
Alissa Bartels was pronounced dead at the scene.
Lucas Bartels was flown to the hospital.
ThedaCare confirms he is in good condition.
The Bartels had just celebrated their first wedding anniversary on Sunday.
