Dog unit from Richland County helps find body missing for months in Georgia lake
It took more than three months for the body of a missing South Carolina man to be found in a lake in Georgia, and a forensic team from Richland County helped in the recovery.
The Richland County Forensic K-9 unit participated in the search and recovery of Dorian Pinson, the Richland County Coroner’s Office said Monday. Pinson’s body was found in Hall County, which is about 200 miles west of Columbia.
Pinson, a Greenville native and former professional basketball player, was last seen on April 18 after he and two others rented a pontoon boat and took it out on Lake Lanier, a recreation area northeast of Atlanta.
The group went swimming and Pinson went missing, according to the coroner’s office.
Strong winds pushed the boat away from Pinson and his group, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Another boater rescued the other two people in Pinson’s group, but he became exhausted, went under, and never resurfaced, officials said.
It had been 86 days since he was reported missing before Pinson was recovered last week, the coroner’s office said.
The search was complicated by the depth of the water and timber-filled bottom of the lake, McClatchy News previously reported.
Winds on the lake also created issues for searchers, according to Michel Galliot, a forensic K-9 handler for the Richland County unit.
“This was one of the most challenging searches I’ve experienced in my 8-year career,” Galliot said in a news release. “The water is constantly moving. That combined with the wind and the depth makes the lake very dangerous for a diver.”
In addition to the team from Richland County, another group that aided in the search was Bruce’s Legacy. That’s a nonprofit based in Wisconsin that provided advanced sonar technology, according to the coroner’s office.
Georgia game wardens, the Hall County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also participated in the search, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
“It’s emotional. I feel for the family,” Galliot said. “I always think it could be one of my own. This is why I do this. It must be hard on them. It is hard on us and you can tell the dogs also feel it.”
Pinson’s disappearance and death continue to be investigated by the Hall County Sheriff’s Office and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
Pinson went to high school in Greenville, WYFF reported. He was on the basketball team at Lincoln Memorial University in Tennessee before pursuing a professional basketball career in leagues in Canada, Germany and Israel.
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This story was originally published July 19, 2021 at 11:07 AM.
