Fidel Ojwang was found dead just after midnight Monday in Lake Allatoona after disappearing underwater from the back of a ski boat on Sunday. He was 28.
That ended an overnight search that began after game wardens and Bartow County Fire Rescue were sent to Glade Marina at 12:49 p.m. Sunday for a possible drowning. Crews started scanning the lake with boat-mounted SONAR, and more personnel and equipment were brought in as the search continued through the night.
Officials said Ojwang exited the ski boat, went underwater and did not resurface. Just after midnight Monday, game wardens found him in approximately 60 feet of water using SONAR, and his body was recovered with a remotely operated vehicle before being turned over to the Bartow County Coroner.
What happened after he entered the water remains the part authorities have not filled in. They have not said whether Ojwang was wearing a life jacket, and they have not said what caused him to go underwater in the first place. That leaves the central fact of the case intact but unfinished: a man from Lilburn was pulled from the lake, but the sequence that put him there is still under investigation.
For now, Lake Allatoona has moved from a Sunday rescue response to a recovery operation that ended with one body brought out of deep water. The search is over. The question that remains is why Ojwang went under and never came back up.
