Just one day after the body of a beloved professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was pulled from a lake, his wife, who claimed she was the last person to see him alive, is speaking out.
One day after losing her husband, Hannelore Jarausch continues to process the loss of Konrad Jarausch. She says the beloved history professor at UNC spent decades teaching in Hamilton Hall, wrote more than 50 books, and loved to swim.
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"Most of the time we went swimming together, but he was a much stronger swimmer than I," Jarausch said.
According to the Chapel Hill Police Department, Konrad had been swimming near Lakeshore Drive in a residential area Tuesday morning. Jarausch said it was the last activity they did together before she lost sight of her husband.
"I swam a little bit further, and I came back, and I couldn’t find him,” she said. “I didn’t have a phone with me, and there was no one else at the lake. So I went next door to the house adjacent to the swimming area to ask for help."
Search teams spent hours looking for the professor and eventually found his body around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.
“It’s very difficult because I keep waiting for him to show up," Jarausch said.
Jarausch said Konrad left behind two sons and four grandchildren, adding that funeral arrangements will be announced at a later time.
WRAL News reached out to the Chapel Hill Police Department about Konrad’s cause of death and whether the lake is safe to swim in. A spokesperson said they had no new updates on the investigation, but provided a link to the Lake Forest Association, which stated that Eastwood Lake is a “swim at your own risk” lake.
WRAL News reached out to the Lake Forest Association and asked if they plan on changing those rules. The association did not immediately respond for comment.