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Body found floating in lake
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Members of the DeKalb County Rescue Squad, the sheriffs department and TWRA load an unidentified body found floating in Center Hill Lake by a fisherman Friday. The sheriffs department is awaiting a patholigists report and positive identification of the body. - photo by Photo by Reed Vanderpool
A body found floating in Center Hill Lake by a fisherman Friday is in the process of being identified.While authorities have suspicions about the identity, they are awaiting the pathologists report and a positive identification of the badly decomposed remains.“We’re waiting on a positive ID now,” Sheriff Patrick Ray said Monday.Only two people are known to have gone missing on the lake without being found in recent years, Joseph Loupe of Rutherford County, and Nashville surgeon William Coltharp.Loupe, 42 years old at the time of his November 2, 2010 disappearance, rented a pontoon boat from Center Hill Marina and vanished.The boat was found in gear, traveling in a circle, approximately an hour after Loupe left the dock.Coltharp set out in a kayak on October 2, 2011, and was last seen on the west side of Hurricane Bridge.A search revealed an upside down kayak believed to be Coltharp's about a mile from Hurricane boat ramp with a laptop computer and a life jacket on board.An empty handgun case believed to belong to the doctor was found on the shore near the ramp.Witnesses said they also saw Coltharp loading a concrete cylinder into the kayak before disembarking.The unidentified body was found floating face down in the water about four-hundred yards from Cove Hollow in the vicinity of Edgar Evins State Park and Center Hill Marina in water with a depth of about ninety feet.Members of the TWRA, DeKalb County Rescue Squad, DeKalb County Sheriff's Department, DeKalb EMS, Corps of Engineers Park Rangers and Edgar Evins Park Manager Carl Halfacre were present at the scene.