UPDATE: Drowning victim identified

Published 2:08 pm Saturday, October 14, 2023

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The Troup County Sheriff’s Office have identified the 33-year-old fisherman who drowned in West Point Lake on Saturday morning.

The victim has been identified as Jonathon Alvarado, 33, of Cobb County.

According to witnesses, Alvarado had friends who had been fishing earlier in the night when he fell from a boat near the Liberty Hill boat access. Two other men in the boat said he went over the front of the boat while dropping anchor.

Troup County 911 received an emergency call about the possible drowning on West Point Lake near the Liberty Hill Access area around 7:37 a.m. On Oct. 14. Deputies arrived with other first responders and learned from the friends of the victim that he had gone overboard and had not been recovered.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources Corp of Engineers was notified of the incident and the Columbus Fire and Rescue dive team was called to the scene to recover the victim.

After several hours of searching, at approximately 1:15 p.m., the victim’s body was located and recovered by the Columbus dive team. 

Investigators initially believed the victim may have had a health incident that caused him to fall from the boat but that has not been confirmed.

Deputies say the incident appears to be a tragic accident.