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Wednesday, May 22, 2013 | 12:24 p.m.

Posted: 1:43 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012

Day 2 of Lanier search ends without leads to drowning victim

Lanier drowning
Lanier drowning

HALL COUNTY, Ga. —

Search teams have ended Day 2 of their effort to find the body of a man who jumped from a sailboat at Lake Lanier just after midnight Friday.

Weather and boat traffic prompted the cancellation Sunday at about 2 p.m., authorities told Channel 2 Action News.

Channel 2's Tony Thomas said the man they're looking for is 44-year-old Atlanta resident Jeffrey Nause, a Georgia Tech alumni and the CEO of a semi-conductor company.

Authorities said Nause was on a friend's boat with a woman and another couple when he plunged into the water near Three Sisters Island. 

Dive teams spent Saturday looking for Nause until boat traffic got too heavy. On Sunday, crews conducted a sonar search to help pinpoint where divers should resume their rescue efforts on Monday.

"Water depths range anywhere from 70 to 140 feet in area (divers are) searching. We don't have pinpoint location. No GPS info," Hall County Sheriff's Sgt. Stephen Wilbanks said.

The Department of Natural Resources, which is assisting Hall County authorities, believes alcohol might be a factor in the case.

In the meantime, Nause's family will gather and possibly assist with the search of the loved one, who they hope made it to shore on some part of the lake.

Channel 2's Erica Byfield is working to contact relatives. Watch updates on Channel 2 Action News at 6 and visit online at WSBTV.com

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