TWRA recovers body of teen from Watts Bar

Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency officers and area agencies recovered the body of Roane County resident, 19-year-old Braeden Hartup, from Watts Bar Reservoir just after 2 a.m. Sunday morning.

The initial 911 call concerning a male who had jumped from a boat and did not resurface, came in just after 9 p.m. on Saturday night. Hartup and ten 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.