ROCKWOOD — Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency officers and local agencies recovered the body of Roane County resident, 19-year-old Braeden Hartup, from Watts Bar Reservoir just after 2 a.m. May 26. 

The initial 911 call, concerning a male who had jumped from a boat and did not resurface, came in just after 9 p.m. May 25. Hartup and 10 others were on an anchored pontoon just south of Rockwood, near the Winton Chapel Access Area. Witnesses stated that Hartup decided to swim and jumped into the water from the front of the boat. Hartup was not wearing a life jacket. 

TWRA officers and local agencies used a remote-operated vehicle to locate and recover Hartup’s body in 24 feet of water. The body was transported to the Knox County Medical Examiner’s Office. This is the eighth boating related fatality this year. The incident remains under investigation. 

Find boating and statistical information at tnwildlife.org.