Missing swimmer identified by coroner after body was pulled from lake in SC
The search for a missing swimmer ended Sunday when a body was discovered in a South Carolina lake, according to the Kershaw County Fire Service.
The “drowning victim” was located and removed from Lake Wateree, the fire service said.
David Cunningham, a 62-year-old Lancaster County resident, was identified as the drowning victim, Kershaw County Coroner David West said Monday.
At about 4:30 p.m., the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources said officers and dive teams responded to reports about the missing person in Lake Wateree. The fire service said the missing person, later identified as Cunningham, was a swimmer.
The swimmer jumped from a boat and did not resurface, according to DNR. Cunningham went into the water at about 2:50 p.m., the coroner’s office said.
Cunningham’s body was recovered at about 10:45 p.m., according to the coroner’s office.
The fire service said it assisted DNR divers in recovering the body. Members of Kershaw County EMS and the Camden/Kershaw County Rescue Squad also responded to the lake.
Information about where in the lake the body was recovered, and the depth of that part of the water, was not available. Before clearing the scene, the fire service asked people to avoid the area a quarter of a mile above the lower dam where officials were searching.
Lake Wateree is a man-made body of water created in 1920 that touches Fairfield and Lancaster counties along with Kershaw County, according to DNR. The lake covers 13,025 acres and has a maximum depth of 225.5 feet, but the average depth is 6.9 feet, DNR said.
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This story was originally published June 30, 2025 at 9:02 AM with the headline "Missing swimmer identified by coroner after body was pulled from lake in SC."
