UPDATE (1:15 p.m.): Officials have released the name of the 20-year-old whose body was recovered from the Oconee River earlier today. 

Eric Reynolds, of Milledgeville, was a student at Georgia Military College. 

Officials say his body was recovered about 100 yards south of where he reportedly went missing Thursday evening. 

A DNR helicopter discovered the body around 11:06 a.m. and was recovered around 11:25 a.m.

Earlier today Georgia Department of Natural Resources Sgt. Bo Kelly told The Union-Recorder that the DNR and the other agencies present were looking for the body of a 20-year-old black male who was swimming in the Oconee River with a female around 6 or 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Kelly gave the witness’ account saying the incident occurred about a mile from the Greenway where Fishing Creek meets the river.

“She swam across the river to the sandbar and he was attempting to cross to her when she lost sight of him and he went under,” Kelly said.

The Milledgeville Fire Department was the first on the scene Thursday evening and utilized its rescue boats to drag the area to try and find the victim. Kelly said the DNR got the call from the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office around 7 p.m. and his unit came out with its own specialized equipment to aid in the search.

“We utilize our riverboat with our SONAR on it to kind of map the area,” said Kelly. “Milledgeville Fire had already called Georgia Power to cut the flow to the river. The river’s dropped about 3 feet overnight. It’s amazing how low it is right now.”

Kelly said the search was called off at about 11:30 p.m. Thursday, and the agencies returned this morning around 7 to continue the effort. The Milledgeville Police Department, Baldwin County Fire Rescue, the Georgia State Patrol dive team, and GMC campus police were also on the scene Friday morning. 

The GSP dive team searched the portions of the river that are too deep for the DNR’s SONAR to reach. The DNR helicopter also came to the scene at about 10:45 this morning to aid in the search from above. 

“We had one of these a few weeks ago in Columbus,” Kelly said. “It was a double drowning. We found the victims utilizing the helicopter just by looking straight into the water. With polarized sunglasses, you can see down into the water a good little bit.”