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GBI finds Jeep rented by Jacksonville-based Navy sailor in Georgia river near where his body was discovered

Family reported Devin Jeter missing a week ago after he rented a Jeep at the Atlanta airport and never made it home

Devin Jeter (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)

LUMBER CITY, Ga. – The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is asking for help from the community after the body of a 25-year-old Navy sailor, who was stationed in Jacksonville, was found in a Georgia river.

On Tuesday, GBI announced that the Georgia State Patrol dive team had located the Jeep Compass rented by Devin Jeter before his disappearance.

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The GBI said a fisherman found Jeter, of Scottsdale, Georgia, dead at a boat landing along the Ocmulgee River near Lumber City on Monday. Lumber City is about an hour north of Waycross in Telfair County.

The medical examiner determined there were no apparent injuries to Jeter’s body, but investigators are still waiting on more forensic tests to learn his cause of death.

GBI said it also found no visible damage on the Jeep.

Jeter’s family reported him missing on Nov. 8 to the Atlanta Police Department after he did not return to work. His last known location was at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport on the night of Nov. 7.

He rented a 2024 silver Jeep Compass at the airport with a Florida license plate of EWAG47. The GBI said he was headed to Jacksonville in the rented vehicle.

When Jeter didn’t show up for work on Nov. 8, his co-workers alerted his family, prompting the missing person’s report.

The GBI urges anyone who may have seen Jeter or the silver Jeep Compass between Atlanta and Lumber City to come forward. Any information, no matter how small, could be vital in solving this case, investigators said.

Contact the GBI regional investigative office in Eastman at 478-374-6988, or share tips anonymously via the GBI’s tip line at 1-800-597-TIPS (8477), online at GBI’s tip submission page, or through the “See Something, Send Something” mobile app.


About the Author
Travis Gibson headshot

Digital Executive Producer who has lived in Jacksonville for over 30 years and helps lead the News4JAX.com digital team.

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