MUDDY CREEK TWP — A 20-day search of Lake Arthur for a man who searchers believed jumped to his death from the Route 422 bridge ended Tuesday when his body was located.

Searchers used a special underwater camera to find the body of Nicholas Sopel Jr., 62, of Butler Township.

Sopel’s family donated the camera to the park to help in the search that had gone on every day for nearly three weeks.

The Butler County Coroner’s office identified the body.

Jake Weiland, the park’s assistant manager, said the body was found just after 2 p.m. in about 8 feet of water near the Route 422 bridge.

Investigators believe Sopel took his own life Nov. 13 when he deliberately jumped off bridge into the frigid water.

Butler County Deputy Coroner Dennis Trzeciak, who pronounced Sopel dead at the scene, said the man died of drowning. The manner of death is listed as suicide. There was no autopsy.

Park rangers, state police and volunteer firefighters began looking for Sopel in and around the park after family members found his abandoned pickup truck not long after he turned up missing.

The Ford Ranger was parked on the side of the road just west of the bridge. In the truck, authorities found his wallet, keys and eyeglasses.

Organized search efforts never took a day off. Park employees had been particularly dedicated to finding Sopel, who was presumed dead after the first day.

“We searched every single day,” Weiland said. “Our primary objective was closure for the family.”

He said the park had kept in daily contact with family members. Among Sopel’s survivors are two children.

Tuesday’s fair weather, coupled with the newly donated camera, made search conditions favorable, Weiland said.

The body was found between the first and second pier of the bridge.

Weiland said he was not surprised that it took so long for rescuers to find the body.

“The colder the water gets, usually the longer it takes (for a body to surface),” he said.

He estimated the lake’s recent water temperature at between 35 and 40 degrees.