WAYCROSS, Ga. -- The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said that
a body believed to be that of a 27-year-old missing CSX worker was discovered Thursday morning in northeast Ware County.
Donnie Lavan "Van" Streat Jr., of Nichols, Ga., has been missing
since leaving work Wednesday night, Feb. 15. Streat is the son of former state Sen. Van Streat.
Searchers with the Ware County Sheriff's Office found the body partially submerged in water in a wooded area off Pole
Yard Road. The area has been the focus of search efforts since the missing man's pickup truck was found abandoned off the
same road two days after he disappeared.
A local resident gave authorities a tip, saying that they should re-search the area where the body was found.
"It's been almost a month, but that particular geographic location in Ware County there has been probably, at the site
where the body was discovered, approximately 3 feet of water, which had been drained from that area," said Agent Jeff Evans
of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. "The location where various individuals from the community had been continuously cleaning
out pipes for the water to drain off that area, I think aided in the body being located."
A positive identification and cause of death is pending an autopsy that will be performed at the GBI crime lab in Savannah.