Presumed drownings of man, teen being investigated

Billy Hobbs, The Union-Recorder, Milledgeville, Ga.
·4 min read

Jul. 26—GREENSBORO, Ga. — Tragedy struck twice Sunday for two families at Lake Oconee in Greene County, local and state authorities say.

The first involved an elderly man whostruck his head on a boat dock and then fell into water at his home off Cherokee Drive in the Cherokee Point subdivision shortly before 3:20 p.m.

Cherokee Point is located off Ga. Route 44, also known as Lake Oconee Parkway.

About four hours later, not far from Cherokee Point, a Greene County teen celebrating his 18th birthday jumped off the Walker Church Road bridge into Lake Oconee. The bridge is located near the Boathouse Marina and restaurant at Harbor Club.

The teen's body was recovered by divers from different dive teams who converged on the scene after local and state authorities used sophisticated sidescan sonar equipment that detected a body in the vicinity of the bridge.

Greene County Sheriff's Office Lt. Patrick Paquette said the teen's body was recovered about 12:45 p.m. Monday.

Information has now been released by local and state authorities concerning both tragedies.

Cory Bohannon, a game warden with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division, said the elderly man sustained some lacerations to his face that appeared to have happened from a fall.

Greene County Coroner Jeff Smith identified the victim as 79-year-old Donald Evans.

Smith said he pronounced the victim dead at the scene shortly before 5 p.m.

The victim's wife called 911 for help, and a firefighter with Greene County Fire Rescue arrived a short time later to help the woman retrieve Evans from the water, according to Bohannon, who assisted Game Warden Cpl. Darrell Worth on the emergency call.

Paquette said authorities believe Evans was walking down to his dock before he fell into the water.

"We're not sure if he lost his balance or what right now, or how he ended up in the water, but at some point he did and that's where his wife found him," Paquette said. "We think he fell off the dock."

Evans' wife and a firefighter helped pull the victim out of the water.

"He was on the bank when we (deputies with the Greene County Sheriff's Office) got there," Paquette said. "Fire rescue personnel were performing CPR at the time."

Bohannon said Evans owned a pontoon boat, which had been tied to the dock before it somehow came loose.

"We haven't determined how it came loose at this time," Bohannon said. "It had drifted to a neighbor's dock area."

The boat was later secured and tied off at the sea wall there, the game warden said.

Greene County Deputy Coroner Chris Peters, meanwhile, identified the teen as Juantavious "Ta" Deshawn Monday of Rachel Street, Greensboro.

The teen's body was discovered in 16 feet of water near the bridge where he had jumped off the night before.

Autopsies are scheduled for sometime this week at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Laboratory in Decatur to determine the exact cause and manner of both victims' deaths, Smith said.

Peters officially pronounced the teen deceased a short time after his body was recovered Monday afternoon.

Greene County Sheriff Donnie Harrison said the teen was celebrating his 18th birthday with some friends and jumped into the lake from the Walker Church Road bridge.

Byron Lombard, who serves as the Greene County manager and chief of Walker Church Fire Department said, firefighters/first responders from his department along with Greene County Fire Rescue assisted in the search for the teen's body from about 8 p.m. Sunday until 1 a.m. Monday.

The search was then called off following a severe thunderstorm. The search resumed at daylight Monday.

Several boats using sidescan sonar, including one from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division and driven by Game Warden Cpl. Worth, along with one from the Greene County Sheriff's Office, searched for the body for several hours Monday before it was eventually recovered.

Firefighters with Putnam County Fire Rescue, meanwhile, used their underwater drone in search of the teen's body.

Dive teams, meanwhile, from the Georgia State Patrol, Columbia County Rescue Dive Team, Covington/Newton County Rescue Dive Team also assisted in recovery efforts.