Georgia Man Is Pulled Through Woodruff Dam

Search continues for missing duck hunter on Lake Seminole

The search is continuing for John Mark Slappey, 34, an Albany, Ga. man who was swept through a lock at the Jim Woodruff Dam on Sunday. He disappeared in the rain-soaked and swollen Apalachicola River below the Dam.

Investigators with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) say Slappey was duck hunting in Lake Seminole from a float tube when he was overwhelmed by the current and began to drift toward the dam. His half-brother Andrew Dismuke, 25, also of Albany, dropped off Slappey in the float tube about 800 yards north of the dam just before 12:40 p.m. EST. Dismuke headed up the lake in his boat to scare up ducks and run them by Slappey.

“Workers at the dam saw Slappey headed toward the dam’s open locks and knew he was in trouble,” said FWC Lt. Scott Pearce. “They threw him a life ring and tried to pull him to safety but he apparently lost his grasp in the strong current.”

A number of agencies, search-and-rescue personnel and volunteers were at the scene on Monday. They included the FWC, Chattahoochee Police Department, Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, Wewahitchka Search and Rescue and Bay County Search and Rescue. Their search has yielded no results.