Cloquet couple found dead after snowmobile broke through ice

Two Cloquet residents are dead after their snowmobile apparently broke through the ice sometime over the weekend.

According to a press release from the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Department, the St. Louis County Volunteer rescue squad found both Debbie Senarighi, 60, and Kenneth Wildenauer, age 60, in the water and deceased on White Iron Lake, southeast of Ely. Senarighi was found at approximately 11:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 24, and Wildenauer was discovered at approximately 2 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 26, in the immediate vicinity of where the snowmobile had broken through the ice.

The St. Louis County Sheriff’s Department said Wildenauer was reported missing Monday, Dec. 24, after he didn’t show up for work in Cloquet. First responders located Wildenauer and Senarighi’s vehicles at Wildenauer’s cabin in Babbit. A snowmobile belonging to Wildenauer was also missing.

Wildenauer and Senarighi were last seen together at Tank’s Bar in Babbit last Friday evening, Dec. 21, and the last known cell phone location was Saturday afternoon southeast of Ely.

It appears the couple’s snowmobile broke through thin ice as they neared Beargrease Island.