Fishermen in Hall County found a woman’s body floating in Lake Lanier shortly before noon Sunday, police said.
Now police are working to find out her identity and how she might have died.
The body was discovered after one of the fishermen called 911. By afternoon, emergency first responders had pulled the body from the lake with a Hall County Fire marine rescue boat, Sgt. Kevin Holbrook, a spokesman for Gainesville police, said.
Deputies confirmed the body was female and was badly decomposed. An autopsy will be performed by the DeKalb County Medical Examiner’s Office.
A construction worker told Channel 2 Action News on Sunday he saw a Hall County emergency crew pull the victim out of the water after the woman’s body floated under a bridge over the lake.
The worker, Doug Driscoll, and a crew of workers were performing routine maintenance on the bridge when Driscoll snapped photos of the rescue crew pulling the body from the water, he told Channel 2.
“I don’t know how long it’d been in the water, but it didn’t resemble a body,” Driscoll said.
Emergency responders who arrived at the scene temporarily shut down one lane of traffic near the lake while Hall County fire’s marina rescue boat crew recovered the body near the Gainesville marina.
Hall County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Nicole Bailes said late Sunday her office is continuing its investigation and will await the autopsy, which will likely provide clues on how the victim might have died.
“We hope to have more details once the autopsy is complete,” Bailes said.
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