Nearly one week after a man was found dead in an SUV pulled from a pond near Norcross, police have identified him.
Gwinnett County police said the victim was Jose James Contreras, 29.
“With the help of the Mexican Consulate,” Gwinnett police Cpl. Michele Pihera said Wednesday in an emailed statement, “Jose’s family in Mexico was notified of his death.”
About 8 p.m. June 11, a person walking near the intersection of Oakbrook Parkway and Indian Trail-Lilburn Road spotted the silver 2001 Isuzu Rodeo Contreras was driving submerged in a pond, police said. That person called 911. When Gwinnett police officers and firefighters got to the scene, they found the SUV upside down in a pond about 20 yards off the roadway. Contreras was inside the overturned vehicle. He was not wearing a restraint.
The vehicle likely was headed northbound on Oakbrook past Jeurgens Court when it left the road in the heavily wooded area and went into the pond and overturned, Pihera said.
However, investigators said they do not know when the incident occurred or why the vehicle left the road.
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