Investigators need help identifying body found floating in river

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Cobb County police need the public's help identifying a body found floating in the Chattahoochee River.

Two men fly fishing near the Fulton-Cobb County line spotted the body early Wednesday morning and pulled the man to the bank.

Sgt. Dana Pierce told Channel 2's Erica Byfield the victim was a 5-foot-10 black man, and the case is being considered a homicide.

"We do not know a motive, we know how this person was killed, but they are, at this point, not willing to release that information," he said.

Pierce added investigators are working to determine how long the man was in the water.

Investigators were unable to identify the victim through dental or fingerprint information and are optimistic someone in the Atlanta area will recognize his tattoos.

"In this case, it is very baffling to investigators because we have no information on this body... Somebody put those tattoos on his body and they would probably recognize what type of tattoo it is," Pierce said.

The victim has seven prominent tattoos:

• A devil and panther on his upper left arm.
• "Latasha" on the back side of his upper left arm.
• A Rottweiler, a heart with a dagger and "Ralph" all on his upper right arm.
• African continent with a lion, elephant and female image inside of it on his upper left chest area.
• A Greek/Egyptian goddess on his upper right chest, covering a "Toni" tattoo.
• An outline of the USA with "916" and an image of a male in chains on his abdomen area.
• A smiling clown, the phrase "Cya Later", and sad theater mask, all on his back.

"Somebody knows who this is and that is what is important to us, not only finding the person who is responsible for the crime but also bringing some closure to the family," Pierce said.

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WSBTV