A body pulled Saturday from Gwinnett's Yellow River has been identified as that of a local teenager who had been missing for several weeks, police said Monday.
Jaheem McGhee, 14, had been missing on the Lilburn-area river since Nov. 19, the same day he and schoolmates skipping classes at Parkview High School attempted to cross while eluding a truancy officer. He was last seen floating downstream as his friends — who didn't report him missing until the next day — urged him to drop his bags.
Authorities searched the river for days before calling off their efforts.
On Saturday afternoon, a kayaker discovered a body while traveling down the Yellow River between Bending River Trail and Stone Mountain Highway. Gwinnett County police and members of the fire department’s swift water rescue team removed the body and said the remains belonged to a male, but an identity was not confirmed until the medical examiner performed an autopsy.
“The case has been ruled a drowning,” Gwinnett police Cpl. Deon Washington said in an email.
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