Local

Police reveal new insight into death of 12-year-old whose bookbag was found floating in lake

EUFAULA, Ala. — A family is mourning the loss of a 12-year-old boy, found dead after vanishing at a lake along the Georgia-Alabama line.

A driver spotted a school bag floating in the water near a boat ramp in Walter F. George Lake on Tuesday. The lake is also known as Lake Eufaula.

“We didn’t know what we had at that time we knew we just had a bookbag and a missing child,” Said Eufaula Police Chief Steve Watkins according to WTVM.

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Police organized teams to search the area.

Investigators say they found the body of Zyrion Harris underneath the end of a dock.

“We always hope for a different outcome but try to be prepared the best you can for the worst outcome,” said Chief Watkins.

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Police have a more detailed timeline of what happened. Investigators say witnesses last saw Harris walking toward the lake after getting off the school bus. A fisherman told investigators he briefly spoke with the boy at the boat ramp.

Eufaula police are now working to learn what happened after the child disappeared and how he ended up in the water.

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Zyrion’s father told WTVM he doesn’t want people to see his son’s death as a tragedy, but to remember the goodness of his son.

Eufaula police said Harris was a middle-school student in the area and that counselors would be made available at the school.