Body Found At Lake Hartwell Confirmed As Missing Kayaker

By MJ Kneiser, WLHR Radio, Lavonia

The body of a man pulled from Lake Hartwell last Sunday has been positively identified as that of a missing kayaker from South Carolina.

Late Wednesday, Georgia Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Officer Craig Fulghum reported that an autopsy confirmed it was the body of 64-year-old Brady Hamby of West Union, South Carolina.

Hamby had taken his kayak out on Lake Hartwell on the afternoon of February 11th from Hartwell State Park on the South Carolina side of the lake, but never returned.

His overturned kayak was discovered the next day washed ashore on the Georgia side near the Harbor Light Marina.

Fulghum said Hamby’s body was found last Sunday afternoon by a fisherman near Shoal Creek in Hart County.

The search by dive and rescue teams from both Georgia and South Carolina had been hampered by severe winter weather for several days before resuming last weekend.

Because Hamby was found on the Georgia side, his body went to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab for autopsy and identification.

Fulghum said that autopsy determined that the cause of death was accidental drowning.