Two men out for a day of fishing on Cherry Creek Reservoir didn’t bargain for what they would find when they spotted an ice cooler floating on the water.

When they waded out to retrieve the cooler, a man’s body “rose to the surface,” according to a spokesperson with the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office. 

The body was frozen to the ice chest, its arms around the cooler, 50-70 feet from shore. The Arapahoe County Coroner’s office confirmed the identity of Perry Bertsch, 64, but investigators do not yet know how long he was in the water or how he died. 

Deputies who responded to the fishermen’s call at 3:10 p.m. Tuesday said that Bertsch was ice fishing and may have slipped through the thawing ice.

Dive teams from South Metro Fire searched the area for any other people who may have also been submerged but found no other bodies in the water.