Joe Womachka
June 27, 2007
Lakeport, California

Lake County Record-Bee
(Lakeport, California)
June 30, 2007

Taxi driver's body found

From staff reports
Article Last Updated: 06/30/2007 12:19:00 AM PDT
Staff reports

LAKEPORT -- The search for missing "Hey Taxi" driver Joe 
Womachka ended Friday evening as his body was recovered 
from Clear Lake inside the van he was driving.

The van was found submerged in the marina waters outside 
Konocti Vista Casino Resort & Marina, which prompted an 
extensive recovery effort by Lake County Sheriff's Department 
officers and a dive team.

Erica Womachka, Joe Paul Womachka's ex-wife and partner in 
the "Hey Taxi" business, told the Record-Bee late Friday night 
that Lake County Sheriff's Office told her and their three sons 
that Joe's body was found in the taxi van pulled out of Clear 
Lake Friday evening.

Womachka was last seen picking up a male passenger at 
Robinson Rancheria Resort & Casino at around 12:15 a.m. 
Wednesday morning, and was reportedly headed to a residence 
near Konocti Vista Casino Resort & Marina.

Womachka said she was "best friends" with her ex-husband, and 
made the missing persons report herself shortly after he did not 
appear to hand over the cab to her for her morning shift at 8:30 
a.m. Wednesday morning.

"He's been an incredible human being," said Womachka tearfully 
Friday evening. "He was the world's best dad. I want everybody 
to know how incredible he is."

In addition to coaching soccer at Upper Lake's middle and high 
school where Joe and Erica Womachka's three teenage sons 
were in soccer, co-worker Desiree McAlear described him as the 
type of taxi driver who "will come get you and take you one 
block," even if it cost him to do so.

Dozens of spectators, including patrons of the nearby Konocti 
Casino, watched a team of officers, divers, and crime scene 
personnel from the Lake County Sheriff's Office in the shallow 
end of the south harbor of marina late Friday afternoon.

The process of pulling the submerged van from the marina's 
harbor took approximately one hour, and neither law 
enforcement officers nor security personnel of Konocti Vista 
gave an official statement to the media regarding their findings 
at the scene.

Officials from both the LCSO and Konocti Vista also refused to 
confirm reports that a suspect was taken into custody on the 
grounds of the resort, or from within the nearby casino. A pair of 
casino security officers said they were not knowledgeable of any 
arrests, nor did they have an opinion if a possible suspect was 
discovered nearby.

Two sources at the scene said the van was discovered in the 
harbor of the marina Friday afternoon as a pair of unnamed 
casino officials were doing water measurements in the harbor in 
preparation for the upcoming BoardStock event. It was during 
measurements that the officials encountered a "tall and solid 
object" in the shallow end near a pier, and called the LCSO.

The opinion was offered by casino sources on the scene that the 
van had entered the water from the north end of the harbor from 
Mission Rancheria Road, and not the south end, where Konocti 
Vista's marina and resort hotel are located. Twenty-five yards 
from the marina's north car entrance, a green wire-and-wood 
fence was marked as part of the crime scene with yellow tape 
and flags, and a deputy stood guard for a short period of time.

Four deputies were observed as being assigned to crowd control, 
and several yards of parking lot area around the Marina and 
harbor itself were roped off by officers. Several persons, 
including press representatives, were either monitored or chased 
away.

Phone calls placed to the "Hey Taxi" business line resulted in a 
pre-recorded message Friday night that said service was 
unavailable due to an "emergency."

Several calls placed to the Lake County Sheriffs Department 
were not returned and no further information was available as of 
midnight Friday night.

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