UPDATE: Bow fishers discover man’s body floating in waters of Lake Oconee

Published 10:46 am Tuesday, July 29, 2025

GREENSBORO, Ga. — A group of bow fishers discovered the decomposed body of a Cobb County man in the Greene County waters at Lake Oconee shortly before midnight Friday, local and state authorities say.

A joint death investigation is underway by three different agencies to determine what happened. 

Those agencies include the Greene County Sheriff’s Office, Greene County Coroner’s Office and Georgia Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division (DNR) game wardens.

Greene County Sheriff Donnie Harrison identified the body as that of 70-year-old Jerome Scott of the 1600 block of White Circle, Marietta.

The sheriff said there was no sign of foul play. 

He said there had been no reports of Scott missing.

An autopsy to determine the cause and manner of Scott’s death was scheduled to be performed at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Laboratory in Decatur, according to Greene County Coroner Chris Peters. Results from the autopsy still were pending Monday.

Peters said believes the victim either accidentally fell off the dock down at the boat ramp or he walked off the boat ramp.

Peters also said he saw no evidence of foul play.

Peters said he arrived at the scene at 12:30 a.m. Saturday.

The coroner said he went out in a boat with DNR game wardens and firefighters/first responders with Greene County Fire Rescue.

Asked how long he believed Scott’s body may have been in the lake, Peters said five days.

“His body was knee-deep in the water,” Peters said. “I walked into the water with pants and boots on to retrieve him.”

Scott’s feet were touching the bank where the bow fishers spotted his body.

The coroner said the victim’s body was found about half a mile from the Redlands Boat Ramp.

Peters said Scott worked at an industrial plant in Greene County at one time.

He said the victim had two daughters and that one of them lived in Greene County.

A 2016 Ford Focus belonging to Scott was found at the Redlands Boat Ramp, which runs off U.S. Highway 278, Harrison said. 

Greene County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Lt. Brian Moore went to the scene where he found Scott’s car. Moore provided Deputy Sgt. Eli Franks with Scott’s license along with his car keys, according to an incident report.

Franks said Savannah LaRae Baker-Campbell and Blake Russell Hardman, both of Danielsville, were bow fishing in the standing timber area of the lake, just south of the boat ramp when they spotted the body floating in the water. 

A wrecker from a towing company later took the car away from the boat ramp.