Authorities in Hall County Monday identified the woman who died after being found unresponsive in Lake Lanier Sunday afternoon, but still aren’t sure how she ended up in the water.

Susan Button, 61, was found in the water off Woodlake Drive shortly before 1:30 p.m., according to the Hall sheriff’s office.

Family members pulled Button from the water and tried to resuscitate her until an emergency medical crew arrived, but she was pronounced dead at Northeast Georgia Medical Center.

"We are still investigating as to how [she] wound up in the lake," sheriff's spokeswoman Nicole Bailes told The Gainesville Times. "My understanding is that family members located her floating face-down near the boat dock."

Bailes said there was “no obvious signs” of foul play.

The apparent drowning occurred off a residential area in a cove of Lake Lanier about five miles north of downtown Gainesville.

— Staff writer Alan Judd contributed to this article.

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Fulton DA Fani Willis (center) with Nathan J. Wade (right), the special prosecutor she hired to manage the Trump case and had a romantic relationship with, at a news conference announcing charges against President-elect Donald Trump and others in Atlanta, Aug. 14, 2023. Georgia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, upheld an appeals court's decision to disqualify Willis from the election interference case against Trump and his allies. (Kenny Holston/New York Times)

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