A body found earlier this week in a shallow area of Lake Lanier has been identified as that of a Flowery Branch man. Exactly how he died is still under investigation.

Michael Gilmer, 61, of Flowery Branch was found Sept. 23 in a section of the lake near Sunrise Cove Marina off of Flat Creek Road in Gainesville, authorities said.

Investigators hiked to the scene down a wooded embankment that afternoon, boarded Marine Rescue 1 and inspected a boat nearby. Members of the dive team also responded to the area.

The call to dispatchers came from a passerby in the area.

“The body appears to be that of a white male badly decomposed,” Hall County Sheriff’s Office Sr. Sgt. Kiley Sargent wrote in a news release on Wednesday. “The body was transported to the DeKalb County Medical Examiner’s Office where an autopsy will be performed.” Results of that autopsy are still pending.