Man's death at Lake Lanier Islands still a mystery

GAINESVILLE - Investigators say they still don't know why a 21-year-old man died after plunging down a water slide at a Lake Lanier water park during the Fourth of July weekend.

Authorities said Sergio Edwards was pulled from the water beneath the Fun Dunker water slide by lifeguards at Lake Lanier Islands Monday.

Park CEO Grier Todd said the water slide Edwards rode has been at the park since 1998, and is functioning properly.

A spokeswoman for Hall County Coroner Marion Merck said the cause of death has not yet been determined.

Todd said Lake Lanier Islands extends its deepest sympathy to Edwards' family.

Edwards was a 2008 graduate of Thornridge High School in Dolton, Ill., and was visiting Georgia when the accident happened.

Merck said Edwards died just after 2 a.m. Tuesday. He had been taken to the hospital around 8 p.m. Monday after a near-drowning incident at the Islands.

(AccessNorthGa.com's B.J. Williams contributed to this story.)