SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — The body of a 20-year old woman who disappeared while swimming in Lake Brantley was found Friday morning. Dive teams spent hours searching Lake Brantley in Seminole County (see map) for Story Waggoner.
Waggoner was swimming with three friends when she disappeared. The friends have been identified as 26-year-old Nacole E. Jeffris, 21-year-old Rhett V. Hamrick, and 21-year-old Nicholas C. Cochran.
Around 10:00am, dive teams marked the spot where they found 20-year-old Story Waggoner, a 2007 graduate of Lake Brantley High School. Her body was just 150 yards off shore. The avid swimmer, who was on her high school swim team, was on the lake fishing and swimming around 4:00am with her friends. WFTV learned that she lived on Bear Lake.
"They were out there, back and forth to shore, and apparently were in the water swimming off and on and, at one point in time, one of the four went missing," said Lt. James Clark, Seminole County Sheriff's Office.
Cochran, Hamrick and Jeffries tried to search on their own and, fearing the worst had happened, ran to George Donovan's home for help.
"She was scared. She knew something was bad and, once I saw the boys, they were somber," Donovan said.
Donovan hopped on his boat to help search, because they had left water bottles in the area where they had been swimming. Around 5:00am, they called the Seminole County Sheriff's Office. Investigators won't confirm it, but sources say there was a lot of alcohol on the boat.
"We were hoping beyond hope she was trying to make it to the shore," Donovan said.
Deputies used two boats and a helicopter to search the area. They don't know how Waggoner died, but they don't believe foul play was involved.
"We're not ruling anything out. But it doesn't appear to be a situation where someone fell out of the boat," Clark said.
Close friends hovered at the scene all morning with Waggoner's father, who didn't want to comment on his daughter's death. In his daughter's high school yearbook, on a page dedicated to the popular swimmer, he wrote: "I'm so proud of everything you've accomplished. I know you will be successful in everything you do. Know that I'll always love you."
A cause of death will be determined pending autopsy.
WFTV
