Body Of Missing Cherokee Teen Found 22 Feet Underwater

WOODSTOCK, GA — The body of a missing Woodstock teenager has been recovered a day after an empty boat was found circling Lake Allatoona, authorities said.

The Georgia Department of Resources on Friday told Patch the missing boater was identified as Jackson Cole Croft, 17. Game wardens found Croft using a side scan sonar around 3:45 p.m. Friday, authorities said.

He was located 22 feet underwater, several hundred feet from where his vacant boat was found circling Thursday night, they added.

The area where the boat was located is north of Victoria Landing near a restaurant, authorities said.

Firefighters were able to stop the boat, and first responders then started looking for its owner, authorities said.

The search for Croft continued until night fell, and it became dark, authorities said. It was then suspended, and first responders headed back out to the lake to resume the search on Friday morning, authorities said.

"Our ultimate goal at this moment in time is to locate this young man and to help this family have some closure," DNR Public Affairs Officer Mark McKinnon told WAGA-TV when the search for Croft was ongoing. "All of our agencies — Cherokee County, state DNR — we’re working together toward that."

Georgia DNR game wardens, Cherokee County firefighters, the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office and the US Army Corps of Engineers were part of Friday's search, authorities said.

Lake Allatoona sits along the Etowah River, 30 miles from Atlanta, according to the US Army Corps of Engineers. Its water streams from the Blue Ridge Mountains.

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