Mason Cox and David Wood, two Georgia friends went missing, have been found dead in Lake Lanier.
The pair, both 20 years old, went fishing early, around 3:30 a.m., on January 2 and hadn’t been seen since.
A search on Friday of Lake Lanier turned up the bodies, reported WSB-TV. The discovery left family and friends trying to cope.
“There’s no healing. This is a small town. Everybody will tell you it’s like losing a part of your family,” said friend Lee Smith.
“It was sickening for all of us,” Smith said about his reaction when he found out the bodies had been recovered. The bodies were found close to a boat dock. Investigators said that icy waters kept them from finding the bodies earlier.
“We weren’t able to go into Lake Lanier because of the ice. We had to wait until those conditions changed to be able to get the equipment out there to go and locate the bodies,” Maj. Tony Wooten of the Dawson County Sheriff’s Office said.
An underwater camera system and sonar equipment helped a lot.
It’s not clear what caused the two men, who are described as athletic and in good shape, to die.
“No obvious signs of trauma on either body. At this point, like we said, they'll go to the crime lab, they'll perform an autopsy,” Wooten said.
“I just want to know what happened,” friend Samie Smith said. “I just feel like everyone will feel better when we know what happened.”
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