Man drowns after jumping off boat at Georgia's Lake Lanier
Man drowns after jumping off boat at Georgia's Lake Lanier Ramon Diaz-Soria's death comes a month after a body police believe belonged to Dustin Valencia, a 43-year-old father of five children, was also found in Lake Lanier.
Show Caption
Hide Caption
Family mourns couple who drowned while snorkeling in Maui
A couple celebrating their wedding anniversary and preparing for the arrival of their second child tragically drowned while snorkeling in Maui.
Fox - Seattle
Georgia officials said they have located the body of a man who jumped off a boat and into a lake wearing an unsecured life jacket.
Witnesses saw Ramon Diaz-Soria, 27, leap into Lake Lanier in Forsyth County in the afternoon on Saturday, June 14, once the vessel came to a stop, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources' Law Enforcement Division.
With his lifejacket improperly secured, Diaz-Soria went underwater, but only his lifejacket floated to the surface, prompting a search, the department said. The Hall County resident was with friends on a rental tri-boon boat, the drowning report shows. Family and friends told officials that he could not swim, according to the report.
Officers searched for Diaz-Soria until it became dark, but they resumed their search in the morning on Sunday, June 18. Using sonar technology, officials located the body 60 feet below the surface by the evening, officials confirmed, adding that it has been sent to the local coroner's office.
Diaz-Soria's death comes a month after a body police believe belonged to Dustin Valencia, a 43-year-old father of five children, was also found in Lake Lanier. The reservoir is the largest lake in Georgia, and it contains over 38,000 acres of water and more than 690 miles of shoreline.
'A piece of me is missing forever'
Diaz-Soria's younger sister, Aby, said her family is in complete shock over the tragedy and has set up a GoFundMe page for funeral expenses.
"Ramon was everything to me. He wasn't just my brother — he was my best friend, my protector, and my biggest supporter. Anyone who knew him would tell you how kind, generous, funny, and full of light he was," Aby wrote on the fundraiser page.
Aby urged everyone to keep her brother in their thoughts and hearts to "keep Ramon's memory alive."
"I still can't believe he's gone — a piece of me is missing forever," she wrote. "This loss is truly beyond words. While nothing can ever fill the void he's left behind, we want to honor Ramon in the way he deserves."
As of Tuesday, June 17, the GoFundMe fundraiser has raised more than $16,000.
More than 200 people have died at Lake Lanier since 1994
Between 1994 and 2024, more than 200 people have died at Lake Lanier, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Law Enforcement Division.
In 2024, there were three drownings, 30 total boating incidents, 21 total injuries, and one boating fatality at Lake Lanier, the Georgia DNR's data shows. Suicides or medical events, including cardiac arrest and strokes, are not counted in any of the reported data.
Lake Lanier drownings, deaths (2018-2024)
2018: 8 drownings, 11 total deaths
2019: 8 drownings, 11 total deaths
2020: 7 drownings, 10 total deaths
2021: 4 drownings, 9 total deaths
2022: 6 drownings, 7 total deaths
2023: 13 drownings, 13 total deaths
2024: 3 drownings, 4 total deaths
Total: 49 drownings, 65 total deaths
Contributing: Jonathan Limehouse/USA TODAY
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Spanish-language journalist to be turned over to Ice after protest arrest
Mario Guevara, a prominent Spanish-language journalist in metro Atlanta who frequently covers immigration and customs enforcement raids, will be turned over to Ice detention after being arrested by local police while covering the 'No Kings' protests. Guevara, 47, was born in El Salvador and has been in the United States for more than 20 years. He recorded his own arrest on Saturday during a raucous street protest in the Embry Hills area of north DeKalb county, an Atlanta suburban neighborhood with a large Latino population. The protest ended with riot police throwing teargas and marching protesters down the street after declaring an unlawful assembly. About 35 minutes into the video Guevara was live-streaming on Facebook to more than 1 million people, he can be first seen on the sidewalk, then backing away from a police officer approaching him. As he backed into the street, two other police officers immediately arrested him. 'By any chance, are we still live?' he asks in Spanish, in the darkness of a van at the scene. 'Someone please call the lawyer Giovanni Díaz, my lawyer, so he can pull the strings he needs to pull. Yes, we're still live, right? Please, someone let lawyer Giovanni Díaz know what just happened.' The arresting officer is from the Doraville police department, a municipality which holds part of Atlanta's famed Buford Highway strip of immigrant-oriented businesses. A second officer approaching Guevara in the video is wearing a gas mask and cannot be identified from his uniform. Police charged Guevara as a pedestrian improperly entering a roadway, obstruction of a law enforcement officer and unlawful assembly. A municipal judge released Guevara on Monday on a recognisance bond – customary with misdemeanor charges. But jail staff said he would be transferred instead to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. The law office Diaz & Gaeta Law, which represents Guevara, declined to comment. A request for information from Doraville police has gone unanswered. Police facilitated demonstrator's march at an earlier protest in the nearby suburban city of Tucker, in which thousands of people walked across an overpass above I-285 – Atlanta's main ring highway – with banners and signs. The earlier 'No Kings' protest had been organized and promoted by Indivisible and 50501. Conversely, organizers from the Party of Socialism and Liberation led the Embry Hills protest. According to a release from the DeKalb police department, police declared an unlawful assembly after they believed marchers would attempt to approach the highway on the on-ramp. Police arrested eight people including Guevara at the protest on Saturday. Ted Terry, a DeKalb county commissioner, asked the county's staff to investigate the circumstances around the use of teargas at the event. 'The decision to deploy teargas – particularly in a neighborhood context with nearby homes and businesses – raises serious questions about the proportionality and justification of the county's response to peaceful civil action,' he wrote. A spokesperson for Ice in Atlanta could not immediately confirm the conditions of the immigration hold or whether Guevara faces deportation. As a journalist with Diario CoLatino in El Salvador, he fled the country in 2004 one step ahead of threats from leftwing paramilitary groups. It took him seven years to get his first asylum hearing before a judge, the journalist told Spanish-language wire service Agencia EFE in the Los Angeles-based publication La Opinión in 2012. He described the arrest of his wife after an error in the immigration system. 'The hardest part for me was seeing my three children cry as she was taken away, and me being powerless to give them the comfort and protection they need,' he said in Spanish in the interview. Guevara has worked for Spanish-language media such as Atlanta Latino and Mundo Hispanico in metro Atlanta since, reporting on criminal justice issues. Guevara's reporting has won awards, including an Emmy. His reporting has uncovered corruption at the Honduran consulate in Georgia and documented the effect of immigration enforcement around Atlanta. He founded MGNews in June last year, focusing on immigration enforcement, and quickly built a sizable following. At the time of his arrest Saturday, Guevara was live-streaming on Facebook to more than 1 million viewers, outdrawing CNN and Fox News combined on a Saturday afternoon.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Man Dies After Jumping Into Georgia's Lake Lanier
A 27-year-old man has died after jumping into a lake that has claimed hundreds of lives over the last three decades. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources learned that someone had drowned on Saturday in a residential cove on Lake Lanier in Forsyth County. The individual was identified as Ramon Diaz-Soria. Witnesses say Diaz-Soria jumped into the lake, but the life jacket he wore was not properly secured. 'Once in the water, he went under and did not resurface, leaving his life jacket floating on the surface," the DNR reported. Game wardens began searching for Diaz-Soria on Saturday afternoon and suspended their search after dark, only to resume it the following day. On Sunday, his body was found in 60 feet of water. A drowning and water death report noted that Diaz-Soria was unable to swim, according to People. The victim was on a boat to celebrate a friend's birthday. His sister told Fox affiliate WAGA that his friends "couldn't find him" when he went into the water. She noted that they acted quickly when they realized he was missing, but they were unable to see and couldn't get to him in time. 'Ramon was everything to me,' she said in a statement posted to a GoFundMe account established to support the family. "He wasn't just my brother—he was my best friend, my protector, and my biggest supporter. Anyone who knew him would tell you how kind, generous, funny, and full of light he was. He was always looking out for others, always ready to lend a helping hand. Helping people wasn't just something he did—it's who he was.' The family has raised over $16,000 after Diaz-Soria's tragic passing, and they are more than halfway to their goal of $30,000 to assist with funeral costs. Over 200 people have died at Lake Lanier since 1984, according to the Georgia DNR and USA TODAY. Most of those deaths have been caused by drowning, with boating accidents also accounting for fatalities. Rest in peace to Ramon Diaz-Soria, and we send condolences to his friends, family and loved ones during this difficult time. Man Dies After Jumping Into Georgia's Lake Lanier first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 17, 2025
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Terry Bradshaw not happy with ‘ridiculous' treatment at airport
Terry Bradshaw's travels are never boring. Unfortunately, for the former Pittsburgh Steelers star and Fox broadcaster, he was the random traveler caught in the TSA's crosshairs on Monday morning. At Springfield-Branson National Airport in Missouri, as the 76-year-old Bradshaw was walking through security, he was selected for an extra diligent search. This did not amuse Bradshaw, and the person he was traveling with was able to catch his displeasure on camera. 'Im not against being safe but…This is ridiculous!!' Bradshaw said on a video posted to Facebook. 'TSA approved, had the body pat down, all the luggage checked, unpacked item by item. Now going into private room for ANOTHER pat down.' While Bradshaw was not happy with this decision by security, he was fully cooperative and even joked towards the camera as he walked with the guard. Bradshaw was in Branson for 'The Terry Bradshaw Show,' which is touring across the country this summer. His shows consist of Bradshaw telling stories and singing. Bradshaw, who quarterbacked the Steelers to four Super Bowls in the 70s, just finished his show in Branson on Sunday. Somehow, this was not the first crazy incident that happened at an airport for Bradshaw this year. While on a flight that had just landed in Pittsburgh on April 10, the exit door became jammed, trapping passengers in the aircraft for an extended period. That is when, according to one passenger, Selah Gamble, Bradshaw unjammed the door. 'The pilot announced and you could kind of hear he was chuckling as he said it, but he said 'thanks to the strength of one of our passengers, we were finally able to get the door open',' Gamble told Ricky Sayer of KDKA Pittsburgh. 'And I think we all knew he was alluding to Mr. Bradshaw,' But Bradshaw was quick to denounce these claims, posting to Instagram, 'Just to set the record straight… I did nothing to open the door on the plane! The maintenance crew had it open in 15 minutes.'
