Body recovered from Forsyth County side of Lake Lanier

A 64-year-old man’s body was recovered Sunday afternoon from a private dock on the Forsyth County side of Lake Lanier, and investigators are still weighing whether an electrical hazard played a role. Forsyth County sheriff’s deputies, Forsyth County Fire Department crews and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources confirmed the fatality Monday morning.

Emergency crews were called just after 2 p.m. to a private dock off the 7800 block of Bamby Road near Lanier Drive in the Young Deer Creek area. By the time firefighters arrived, civilians had already pulled the body from the water, and Forsyth County Fire Division Chief Jason Shivers was among the officials involved in the response.

The death remains under investigation. One account said the man had been swimming in the area and was not seen going under, which has left investigators with an open question about what happened in the water and around the dock. The working focus on a possible electrical hazard makes the case different from a routine drowning and puts attention on shoreline and dockside safety, especially where swimmers, boats and powered equipment can overlap.

The incident matters locally because Lake Lanier is one of Forsyth County’s busiest summer destinations, and its shoreline sees heavy use from families, boaters and swimmers throughout the holiday weekend stretch. FOX 5 Atlanta said the death was at least the fourth connected to the lake this year, a reminder of how often emergency calls there draw a fast, multiagency response from county crews and state wildlife officers.

That response has become familiar on the Forsyth side. In June 2024, Georgia Department of Natural Resources rescue teams joined Forsyth and Hall County crews in the recovery of Ramon Diaz-Soria, whose body was found in 60 feet of water after game wardens used SONAR to locate him. The repeated involvement of sheriff’s deputies, firefighters and state investigators shows how quickly a Lake Lanier emergency can turn into a coordinated search-and-recovery operation, especially when conditions in the water are uncertain and the cause of death is not immediately clear.