PROSPERITY, S.C. — Authorities say a boater missing on Lake Murray since July 31 has been found.
The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (DNR) confirmed that the body of the boater was found around 7:30 .m. on Wednesday near Dreher Island State Park. The department said this was not a dive team recovery as the body had surfaced and was located by the DNR's surface search team.
While DNR has not released the boater's name, in an interview with WLTX, his girlfriend identified him as Terrance Butler.
Lakesa McGraw told WLTX that they had boarded a boat to celebrate her sister's birthday. She said he fell in the water and others on the boat immediately went in to find him.
McGraw said that Butler was an employee of the Department of Juvenile Justice who had also served his country.
In all, the DNR said it spent 12 hours a day for 10 days searching for the boater and had an average of six people searching each day, not including aerial search pilots.