Millbrook police identify body found in Sandtown Road lake

Millbrook police have identified the man found floating in a small lake off Sandtown Road as 58-year-old Demetrius Bruce Zeigler of Coosada, but investigators have not said how he died. The discovery in the 4100 block of Lakeview Drive, near the Lakeshore community and Sandtown Road, has turned into an active death investigation, and police are still trying to piece together what happened before the body was found.

Chief P.K. Johnson said officers were called on Wednesday, June 17, after a homeowner reported seeing what appeared to be a body in the water. Responding officers recovered the remains from the lake and sent the body to the Alabama Department of Forensic Science for autopsy and formal identification. Police later confirmed that the body belonged to Zeigler.

Investigators said there were no obvious signs of foul play at the scene. Even so, the case remains open, and police have not released a cause of death. That leaves unanswered whether Zeigler died from an accident, a medical emergency or another circumstance that has not been made public.

The identification also brought family notification and a new search for context around Zeigler’s final days. Police said they notified his family after the Alabama Department of Forensic Science confirmed his identity on Monday, June 22. Authorities have also said several citizens came forward over the weekend with concerns about an individual who had not been seen for some time, including an immediate family member, adding a possible missing-person angle to the investigation.

For residents near Sandtown Road and Lakeview Drive, the case has been a reminder that a routine call in a neighborhood setting can become a death investigation in a matter of hours. Millbrook, which had a population of 16,564 at the 2020 census and an estimated 17,623 residents as of July 1, 2025, continues to grow fast in the Montgomery metropolitan area, while Coosada, where Zeigler lived, had a population of 1,217 at the 2020 census.

Millbrook police are still asking anyone with information to come forward with details that could help establish Zeigler’s last known movements or explain why he was in the area. Tips can be shared by calling the Millbrook Police Department at (334) 285-6832 or the Secret Witness Line at (334) 285-8500. The investigation remains open as detectives work to determine what led to Zeigler’s death.