Investigators have called off their search for a woman who went missing last week at Lake Lanier.
“We have exhausted all search methods at this time,” Gainesville police spokesman Kevin Holbrook told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday afternoon. “We are focusing our efforts on the investigation at this time.”
Lizeth Ruby Ruiz, 23, was socializing with friends on May 18 at Lanier Point Park in Hall County when she became separated from them. Since then, investigators have searched the lake using side-scan sonar, and searched on land using dogs.
Some family and friends suspect foul play, Channel 2 Action News reported. But that may not be the case.
“At this point, we have nothing to indicate that it was foul play,” Holbrook told Channel 2.
A friend of Ruiz, Noemi Montanez, told Channel 2, “Our heart says that she’s not here, and I think the heart of a mother does not make a mistake.”
The search effort includes police and fire officials from Gainesville and Hall County, the Hall sheriff’s office and the state Department of Natural Resources.
Anyone with information on Ruiz is asked to call 911.
