Dive team pulls man’s body from Lake Murray, Lexington County sheriff says
A man died in a South Carolina lake Saturday night, according to the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department.
Travers Antonio Berry, a 50-year-old Columbia resident, is the man whose body was recovered from Lake Murray, Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher said Sunday night. No cause of death has been released.
Berry was out on Lake Murray in a boat with friends and family, Capt. Adam Myrick told The State on Sunday. When the boat returned to a dock on the Irmo side of the Dreher Shoals Dam, Berry was part of the party getting off the boat at about 9 p.m., according to Myrick.
A witness said that Berry bent over to put on his shoes when he fell off the dock and into the water, according to Myrick.
The witness jumped into the lake in an effort to rescue the man, but Berry’s body wasn’t recovered until a dive team responded to Lake Murray, Myrick said. The body was found under the dock at about 11 p.m., according to Myrick.
No other injuries were reported.
The death continues to be investigated by the sheriff’s department, the coroner’s office and the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.
The average depth in Lake Murray is 41.5 feet, but it can go as far down as 200 feet, according to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. Lake Murray has 620 miles of shoreline and portions of it are located in Lexington, Richland, Newberry and Saluda counties.
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This story was originally published April 12, 2026 at 1:21 PM.
