The body of a 27-year-old Buford man who went missing while swimming at Lake Lanier’s Van Pugh Park was found Thursday morning after five days of searching, according to officials.
Leonardo Martinez went underwater Saturday and never resurfaced. It wasn’t until 9:30 a.m. Thursday that his body was found and recovered by game wardens during shore sweeps near Van Pugh Park South in Hall County, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. He was found about 30 yards from the shore.
Martinez’s family told Channel 2 Action News that he spent plenty of time on the lake working as a boat mechanic. But that Saturday, he jumped into the water from a boat and wasn’t seen again.
“Our heart is broken, you know,” his cousin, Angelo Jaciofano, told the news station Monday as he watched from the shore as search efforts unfolded.
Martinez was one of three people to die in the lake’s waters over the course of three days.
Also on Saturday, 61-year-old Tracy Stewart of Stone Mountain was pulled from 110 feet of water several hours after he jumped in from a boat near East Bank Park in Gwinnett County. He became distressed but wasn’t wearing a life jacket, and by the time his group found one for him he was already underwater, officials said.
Two days earlier, 24-year-old Thomas “Shep” Milner jumped into the lake from his family’s dock near Little Ridge Park in Forsyth County and was electrocuted. An electrical current from the dock had made its way into the water. He died the following day.
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