Second victim dies from June 11 drowning incident at lake

Published 5:41 pm Sunday, June 19, 2022

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On Friday,  the Troup County Sheriff’s Office was notified that the adult drowning victim from the June 11 incident on West Point Lake, Stephanie Walker, passed away at Wellstar West Georgia Medical Center.

Walker had been in ICU since the tragic incident last Saturday and never recovered. TCSO also announced it had previously given the wrong age for Walker, saying she is 49 and not 40.

Makayla Prather, 13, also drowned in the June 11 incident.

According to a press release from TCSO, on Saturday at 1:57 p.m., deputies with TCSO, along with Troup County Fire Department and Troup County AMR were dispatched to West Point Lake near the 400 black of Lower Glass Bridge Road in regards to a possible drowning involving two victims. Deputies found Walker unresponsive and Prather’s body was later recovered by dive teams.

“After speaking with our caller on Saturday, we believe one of the victims entered the water from the shoreline, became distressed, and the second victim entered the water in an attempt to help them and became distressed themselves,” said Stewart Smith with TCSO. “There was no eye witness to the incident, as our caller who had been with the two prior to the event taking place had just returned to the location when he found the adult victim in the water.”