TOWNVILLE, S.C. --
A Townville man died late Friday in what authorities are calling a probable drowning.
Oconee County Coroner Karl Addis identified the man as 19-year-old Dustin Allan Moody, of Townville.
Witnesses said that Moody was fishing with friends on Lake Hartwell when the paddleboat he was in capsized. A member of the Oconee County dive team recovered his body 35 feet from the shoreline in 10-12 feet of water. Because this was considered a cold water drowning, paramedics initiated CPR and other advanced life support procedures before airlifting the victim to AnMed, where he was pronounced dead.
The Department of Natural Resources is investigating the death as an accident.
Moody's mother, Tammy Rogers, said she warned her son not to go to the lake Friday night. She said he did not know how to swim.
"I saw him walking down the road," she recalled. "I said 'Dustin, please don't be with those boys, come with me please!' And he said 'Momma quit worrying. I'm alright.'"
Rogers said she has heard conflicting versions of what happened at the lake, and that she hopes investigators can come up with answers. Saturday afternoon, DNR investigators said Moody was on the boat alone when it began to take on water.
When Rogers heard the news of her son's death, she was distraught.
"This is wrong," she said. "He should be with me. "Since yesterday, all I can see is him yelling for me to help him, and I couldn't. I wasn't there. It's like I let him down. I was not there."
An autopsy will be scheduled in the next few days.
A Townville man died late Friday in what authorities are calling a probable drowning.
Oconee County Coroner Karl Addis identified the man as 19-year-old Dustin Allan Moody, of Townville.
Witnesses said that Moody was fishing with friends on Lake Hartwell when the paddleboat he was in capsized. A member of the Oconee County dive team recovered his body 35 feet from the shoreline in 10-12 feet of water. Because this was considered a cold water drowning, paramedics initiated CPR and other advanced life support procedures before airlifting the victim to AnMed, where he was pronounced dead.
The Department of Natural Resources is investigating the death as an accident.
Moody's mother, Tammy Rogers, said she warned her son not to go to the lake Friday night. She said he did not know how to swim.
"I saw him walking down the road," she recalled. "I said 'Dustin, please don't be with those boys, come with me please!' And he said 'Momma quit worrying. I'm alright.'"
Rogers said she has heard conflicting versions of what happened at the lake, and that she hopes investigators can come up with answers. Saturday afternoon, DNR investigators said Moody was on the boat alone when it began to take on water.
When Rogers heard the news of her son's death, she was distraught.
"This is wrong," she said. "He should be with me. "Since yesterday, all I can see is him yelling for me to help him, and I couldn't. I wasn't there. It's like I let him down. I was not there."
An autopsy will be scheduled in the next few days.
