Fidel "Omil" Ojway, a 28-year-old artist from Lilburn, Georgia, died in a suspected drowning while on a boating trip with friends at Lake Allatoona on Sunday. The group was spending the afternoon on the water when Ojway jumped in and never resurfaced, leaving his family and friends struggling to understand what happened to a well-liked figure in their community.

According to his friend Narji Njau, who spoke to WSB-TV Channel 2, Ojway went under suddenly and without any struggle. Emergency crews used sonar equipment to search the lake, and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources recovered his body in the early hours of Monday after a search lasting from Sunday afternoon until around midnight. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is to carry out an autopsy to establish the cause of death. Friends noted that Ojway knew how to swim and had been out on the lake many times before, deepening the mystery surrounding the incident.