A 17-year-old drowned Sunday after swimming in Lake Oconee near the Old Salem Campground, the Greene County Sheriff’s Office said.

Authorities responded to the campground about 8:45 p.m. regarding a possible drowning, sheriff’s Capt. Lee Stancill said in a statement. Deputies found Greene County Fire and Rescue tending to an unresponsive Jalen Neal, Stancill said.

The Crawfordville teenager was taken to St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital in Greensboro, where he was pronounced dead.

Neal was swimming in the beach area of the park when he went under for a few minutes, Stancill said. He was eventually spotted and pulled from the water.

The drowning is the second at the campground within the past month.

Officers from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources are conducting an investigation into the incident.

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Ceudy Gutierrez reads a book to her 2-year-old son, Matias, at their home in Buford, GA, on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. Ceudy Gutierrez is struggling to make ends meet for herself and her three young kids following her husband’s ICE arrest earlier this fall. (Miguel Martinez/ AJC)

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