Man who drowned in Broad River identified

The man who drowned in the Broad River just north of I-20 Wednesday evening has been identified, officials say.

Ernest Cornelius Godbold III, 20, of West Columbia, was found at around 6:40 p.m., Richland County Coroner Gary Watts said in a statement released Thursday.

Godbold was found in about 30 feet of water downstream from where he was last seen Wednesday. An autopsy conducted Thursday morning shows that Godbold died from fresh water drowning, Watts said.

Godbold was able to swim according to friends at the scene.

State and local water rescue personnel began searching the river after swimmers reported that a young man who had been swimming with them went under and did not come back up.

Godbold disappeared from a sandbar where about 40 people were trying to keep cool, Robert McCullough of the SC Department of Natural Resources said earlier.

Rachael Myers Lowe contributed to this report.