A fisherman was left in shock last week when he hooked and reeled in what he thought was the catch of a lifetime but ended up being a man’s body.
The fisherman was fishing the Chattahoochee River in Columbus, Georgia, on Tuesday around 5 p.m. when he and his buddies were left horror-stuck after reeling in the body of a dead man, Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan shared.
“In 12 years, this is the first time that I’ve had a fisherman hook a body and bring it to shore,” Bryan said. “This guy probably thought he had caught the biggest catfish ever.”
Authorities are now looking to identify the man whose body was caught in the river, asking the public for help.
“Somebody’s got to know this guy, they’ve got to know him,” Bryan said.
Currently, authorities think the man is a homeless person who had reportedly jumped into the Chattahoochee River on Feb. 7.
“Officers got called out to this area, which is notorious for people drowning. This guy was having some issue, was probably high on meth or something from the way he was acting. He was also naked,” Bryan said.
Byran shared that the Columbus police officers who responded to the call two weeks ago confirmed the body belonged to the man. Right now, they believe this to be an accidental drowning.
“It was not suicide. This was an accidental death. He drowned, and I don’t think it was on purpose either,” Bryan said.