Rangers Scaling Back Search For Missing Snellville Boater

SNELLVILLE, GA -- The Georgia Department of Natural Resources announced it is scaling back its search for a Snellville man who has been missing on Lake Lanier since Saturday.

For the fifth day Wednesday, the DNR, along with deputies from Hall County, used sonar and other techniques in hopes of finding 57-year-old Jerry Kornmeier.

Kornmeier went missing around 5 p.m. Saturday in the Cocktail Cove area of Lake Lanier. Park rangers found his boat floating just outside the cove area, but no sign of Kornmeier.

Since then, law-enforcement agents have searched the surrounding area to no avail.

"The decision to scale back is based on the difficulty of searching the area of interest," the DNR said in a news release. "The water is very deep with standing timber on the bottom. Rangers believe they have covered it as well as they possibly can with the electronic equipment."

Sonar searches will be discontinued, the agency said, but rangers will continue to perform shoreline sweep until further notice.

Wednesday's results from the search were nearly identical to Tuesdays. On both days, deputies using sonar identified one possible target but, in both cases, video surveillance showed the target was not Kornmeier.

Wednesday's search was suspended at 7 p.m.