Lexington coroner determines cause of death for man found in Lake Murray
The Lexington County Coroner’s Office released the cause of death for a man who was found dead in Lake Murray after a search by police.
Wednesday evening, Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher said that 51-year-old Timothy Peele of Irmo died from a “medical event.” Fisher ruled Peele’s death as natural.
Tuesday morning, a person at the Lake Murray dam near the Irmo side noticed an unmanned fishing boat adrift in the lake. The person called police at about 6:40 a.m. about the boat, authorities said.
Lexington County Sheriff’s Department divers and marine patrol deputies as well as officers with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources searched for the driver of the boat all morning. About midday, the searchers found Peele’s body.
Authorities discovered that Peele had launched his boat into the water from a ramp near the dam only minutes before his boat was found drifting. The sheriff’s department announced that Peele was the driver of the unmanned boat.
An autopsy was performed Wednesday.
Peele’s is the first reported death on Lake Murray in 2020.