Two Greene County families are dealing with a pair of Lake Oconee tragedies that occurred back to back on the evening of Sunday, June 24.
According to the Greene County Sheriff’s Office, Juantavious Deshaun Monday of Greensboro — who was celebrating his 18th birthday — dove into the lake from a bridge on Walker Church Road near the Boathouse Marina and Harbor Club Restaurant.
Witnesses said Monday surfaced but was in obvious distress. Some of his friends attempted to render aid to the distressed Monday but to no avail. Monday went back under the water and did not resurface.
Greene County deputies and personnel from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources arrived on the scene and began searching for Monday with the help of a GCSO Marine Unit and a Walker Church Fire Department unit.
Personnel from Greene County EMS and a Putnam County Marine unit were also involved in the initial search.
The search continued until a little after midnight when a thunderstorm came through the area, forcing the search to be suspended until the following morning.
Personnel from the DNR, GCSO, Georgia State Patrol Dive Team, Covington Fire Department Dive Team, Columbia County Fire Department Dive Team, as well as the Putnam County units on scene the day before, continued the search and established a command post at the Boathouse Marina.
According to the Greene County Sheriff’s Office, “a plan was developed and the search was resumed for Monday. Various pieces of equipment were used in the search and Monday was located a little after 12:30 p.m. with the help of Columbia County’s 360-degree sonar unit.”
Divers were then sent in to recover Monday in approximately 15 feet of water near where he was last seen by witnesses.
Greene County Sheriff Donnie Harrison thanked the staff of the Boathouse Marina for the use of their facilities and also all the assisting agencies that came to help.
Sheriff Harrison and deputies expressed their condolences to Monday’s family.
Earlier in the day, a 79-year-old man apparently fell from a dock near Cherokee Point at approximately 3:20 p.m. and later drowned. According to authorities, it appears that Donald Evans of Greene County had a medical issue that resulted in the tragedy. Preliminary results of the investigation suggest the drowning to be accidental, but the GBI Medical Examiner’s Office will assess the incident in further detail.
Greene County Fire and Rescue recovered Evans from the water shortly before 5 p.m.