It appears a combination of alcohol consumption and late-night kayaking resulted in the death of a 33-year-old man on Lakeville Lake in Addison Township.

At 9:21 a.m. on July 16, the body of Steven E. Giron was found in 7 feet of water about 200 yards from shore between Annandale Rd. and Peninsula Dr., according to Oakland County Sheriff’s Sgt. Keith Weir, commander of the Addison substation.

An autopsy was performed later that day by the Oakland County Medical Examiner’s Office and the “preliminary indication” is the death was due to drowning, according to Sheriff’s Sgt. Brent Jex, of the Marine Division.

Weir described Giron as “a drifter” who was “originally from Miami,” Florida.

Sheriff’s deputies were called to the Department of Natural Resources public boat launch on Lakeville Lake after Giron was reported missing by his girlfriend, a 53-year-old with a Knoxville, Tennessee address, and her sister, a 42-year-old Addison resident who lives on Peninsula Dr.

Weir said Giron and his girlfriend, who were visiting, were out kayaking on the lake “after a long day of consuming alcoholic beverages” when an “accident” occurred.

“Her kayak struck his kayak,” the sergeant said. “Her kayak overturned” and she went in the water.

According to Weir, the girlfriend told deputies after this happened, “there was an argument” between them because “he wouldn’t help her get back into her kayak.”

“The next thing you know, he was gone and she swam back (to shore). She didn’t know where he went,” the sergeant said.

Jex noted the girlfriend used a floating seat cushion to assist her.

Exactly when this incident happened is unclear.

“We believe it to be somewhere between 11:30 (p.m.) and midnight, but we don’t know that for sure because we’re getting conflicting statements,” Weir said. “There was a lot of alcohol consumed.”

After the girlfriend reached shore, she returned to her sister’s house and woke her up to tell her what had happened.

“They went out (in the sister’s boat) and did their own search,” Weir said. “They went out and looked for him themselves because they thought he was still kayaking. They didn’t know what happened to him.”

Weir said the pair found the girlfriend’s kayak “floating upright with no water in it,” then “they located his (kayak)” and it was “partially submerged.”

After finding both kayaks, they returned to shore, called 9-1-1 to report Giron missing and went to the boat launch to meet deputies. In the report, Giron was described to deputies as “heavily intoxicated.”

Based on the report, Giron’s girlfriend also “appeared to be highly intoxicated.” The deputy wrote he observed she had “bloodshot and glassy eyes,” her speech was “slurred” and “she was staggering at times.”

Members of the sheriff’s Marine Division and the Addison Township Fire Department searched for Giron. Six boats along with the sheriff’s dive team, helicopter and canine units were deployed as part of the effort.

Ultimately, Weir said it was the Marine Division that found Giron’s body using technology.

“They picked him up on the sonar and then sent down divers,” he said.

According to Weir, Giron’s body was found “pretty much right where (the girlfriend) said the kayaking accident happened.”

“(The body was) right in the general vicinity, within sight of the buoys that the Marine Division had (placed to mark) where they located the kayaks,” he said.

Weir noted there were “no signs of trauma” and foul play is not suspected.

He explained the condition of the body indicated that Giron had taken in water and therefore, was breathing when he went in the lake.

“If they’ve stopped breathing before they go in the water, the body looks distinctly different,” Weir said.