Missing Teen's Body Found In Chattahoochee River

Marietta GA

03 June, 2021

2:34 PM

Description

COBB COUNTY, GA — Cobb County Police Department officers found the body of a missing teenager in the Chattahoochee River. While police haven't released a name, multiple news outlets confirmed with family that the drowning victim was 17-year-old Jake Whatley. Whatley and nine of his friends had tried to swim across the river Tuesday, with only eight making it across. One of the two who did not make it all the way across was rescued on a rock in the river, according to 11Alive, and the other person was Whatley. Crews tried to search for the teen Tuesday evening, but could not begin the search properly due to the strong current. Rescue efforts quickly turned to recovery efforts, fire officials said. Police returned to the river Wednesday morning and began to search for Whatley. They found his body around 5:50 p.m. that evening, Cobb police spokesperson Sgt. Wayne Delk said in a news release Thursday. Whatley's mother, Nim, described him as a smart kid who wanted to be a businessman, according to 11Alive. He was a trained gymnast with dreams of going national — in fact, he had just finished with gymnastics practice with his group of friends when they decided to swim across the river. "There's no words that — there's no words for the death of a child," Gregory Whatley, Jake's father, told the Marietta Daily Journal Wednesday evening. "The child is supposed to bury their parent, not the other way around. … [I'm] still trying to process that my youngest son is probably gone."