Beginning Thursday, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources will scale back their search for a Snellville man who was reported missing over the weekend after his empty boat was found floating in Lake Lanier.
The empty boat belonging to Jerry Kornmeier, 57, was first reported around 5 p.m. Saturday afternoon. Authorities found the boat floating in the Cocktail Cove area near Lake Lanier Islands.
In an email statement Wednesday night, Mark McKinnon with the DNR said the decision to scale back the search operation stems from the difficult conditions rangers have had in searching the area where Kornmeier's body is believed to be.
"The water is very deep with standing timber on the bottom. Rangers believe they have covered it as well as they possibly can with the electronic equipment," the statement read. "Side-scan and sector-can sonar will not be used, but DNR Law Enforcement will continue to perform shoreline sweeps until further notice."
The search, which is being conducted with the help of the Hall County Sheriff's Office, Hall County Fire Services and the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office, yielded one possible target on both Tuesday and Wednesday, but the DNR's Remote Operated Vehicle determined neither was the missing man.
Wednesday's search was called off at 7 p.m.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2016/5/395861/dnr-to-scale-back-search-for-man-missing-in-lake-lanier