The name of a man that drowned at DeSoto State Park in Mentone has been released. The drowning victim was the second death at the park in less than a week.
Authorities identified the man as Franklin Bates and say that he drowned while swimming at the park around 6:30 PM on Friday evening.
On Memorial Day, a Rome man jumped from the falls and was killed. Joseph Nicholas Cantrell died Monday morning around 11:15 a.m. at DeSoto Falls State Park. The coroner said Cantrell jumped from the falls and did not make it.
The park superintendent said of Monday’s death that it was the first such death of this kind in three years.