Athens investigators trying to determine if body pulled from river is that of missing man
A body was pulled from the Middle Oconee River in Athens on Friday afternoon, but police investigators say the identity and cause of death have yet to be determined.
The body was found caught in a log jam in the river near Rhodes Drive by searchers with the Athens-Clarke County fire and police departments, according to Clarke County Coroner Sonny Wilson.
The search along the river was prompted by an investigation into the Dec. 13 disappearance of 27-year-old Quavian Culver, who was last seen at The Flats apartments off Sycamore Drive. The apartments, located near Broad Street, are close to the Middle Oconee.
On the day Culver disappeared, investigators observed him at The Flats shortly before 5 p.m. on surveillance-camera footage, according to police Lt. Shaun Barnett.
There have been no other positive sightings of him since that time, police said.
Culver’s mother, Tammy Tarpkins, said Friday that investigators told her the body is likely that of her son, but only an examination at the State Crime Lab can confirm that suspicion.
Culver, sometimes known by his nickname, Drop, was Tarpkins' only child.
In an interview earlier in the week, Tarpkins said she believed something bad had happened to her son.
Culver was on probation, but was regularly attending his probationary classes, she said. As the father of three, including a young infant, he had no reason to suddenly leave without an explanation, according to Tarpkins.
Culver was last seen at an apartment building in the complex located next to the river. The body found Friday was much further south along the river, not far from the Athens Perimeter bridge.
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Police have been following several leads in Culver’s disappearance.
On the day he disappeared, police said his cell phone pinged off a cell tower in Oconee County. The phone carrier analyzed the ping, but didn’t have the data to provide a precise location, Barnett said.
However, the ping did fall within the area of Sycamore Drive. That became significant because of the surveillance video that showed Culver at The Flats.
Another piece of potential evidence was found in the area behind The Flats.
A resident of the apartment complex found a jacket on a sand bar in the river, which flows behind the complex. The family was at the location in December doing some canvassing on their own and that man gave the jacket to the family, according to Barnett.
The family turned the jacket over to police and said the it belonged to Culver, Barnett said. The jacket was sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab to determine if any DNA evidence can be recovered, but the lab has not reported any findings at this point, Barnett said.
The family believed the river was a key to finding Culver.
Culver’s grandmother, Loretta Tarpkins, said this week that she had a vision that Culver’s body was in the river.
“I had a vision, spiritual, and kept telling the detective ‘my grandson is in water. You need to check the place you saw him at’ and I didn’t know there was a river there, but I said he’s in the water,” she said.
Tammy Tarpkins said she asked a detective earlier about searching the river.
“He said he kept reaching out to Oconee Joe, but Oconee Joe has not responded. Who is this Oconee Joe?” she asked.
Reached for comment, Oconee Joe, who has a business taking people on kayak trips along the Oconee, said he had boated that section of the Middle Oconee on Dec. 28, when the water level was low, and didn't see anything unusual, although he was not looking for a body.
On Friday, police and members of the fire department were on the river as part of the investigation when they found the badly decomposed body.
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Body pulled from Oconee River during search for missing Athens man
