KAY COUNTY, Okla. - Craig Strickland "experienced no pain in his final moments," his wife Helen said.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says they recovered the country singer's body at Kaw Lake on Monday. Strickland's widow took to social media to shed some light on her husband's final moments.
Strickland, a 29-year-old vocalist in the country rock band Backroad Anthem, and Morland, 22, were duck hunting at Oklahoma’s Kaw Lake the Sunday after Christmas when a fierce winter weather system was hitting central portions of the country.
After relatives reported them missing on Dec. 27, state troopers found Morland’s body two days later at the lake where the friends’ boat capsized.
The weather at the time of the trip was dangerous with rain, sleet, snow and frigid wind chills as low as 15 degrees.
Morland acknowledged the weather in a haunting tweet before they went on their hunting trip.
“In case we don’t come back, @BackroadCRAIG and I are going right through Winter Storm Goliath to kill ducks in Oklahoma. #IntoTheStorm,” Morland’s tweet reads.
Morland's cause of death was determined to be drowning due to a capsized boat coupled with exposure, the Oklahoma Chief Medical Examiner's office said.