GREENWOOD, S.C. (WIS) - The body of a Hopkins native that went missing on Lake Greenwood in Laurens County has been found.

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources confirmed the body of Staff Sgt. Porsha Griffin was found Monday afternoon.

The search for Griffin’s body began on May 25 after the 30-year-old went underwater while tubing and never resurfaced.

For more than a week, Griffin’s family and friends held out hope.

WIS News 10 spoke exclusively with a friend that was tubing with Griffin before she went under.

“My heart is broken, and I just don’t know. I don’t know how to go on,” said Diamond De La Rosa.

It’s a reality that Diamond De La Rosa never thought she would have to face ― the reality her best friend Porsha Griffin would not be found alive.

“Them bringing her home the other day, it was the closure that we needed but it also confirmed what we all don’t want to believe and that’s that she’s gone,” she said.

De La Rosa was one of the three friends who went tubing with Griffin on Saturday, May 25th. Investigators said Griffin was tubing behind a boat when she went underwater and never resurfaced.

“It was devastating. It was truly heartbreaking,” she said.

The search for Griffin’s body went on for 10 days. De La Rosa said she watched as recovery crews searched for her body anticipating the best-case scenario.

“I had hope that she was maybe she was just stuck on an island, or maybe she got picked up by another boat, and someone didn’t know she was missing,” she said.

De La Rosa told me Griffin was a staff sergeant for the Army National Guard, but aside from that, she was the eldest of three siblings, a mother to a 9-year-old daughter, a recent nursing school graduate, and someone who goes above and beyond to help others.

“She fed the homeless for Thanksgiving, and I don’t mean no Kraft mac and cheese, got up at like 5 in the morning to cook macaroni, turkey, collard greens. She loved people,” De La Rosa remembered.

Fellow nursing student, Keesha Drummond, from Griffin’s cohort, remembers that day.

“I had the privilege of feeding the homeless in Columbia with her and just the care and the detail that she put into making those meals just shows you the kind of person she was,” said Drummond.

De La Rosa says she and Griffin’s family are just trying to remain strong for Griffin’s 9-year-old daughter.

WIS News 10 asked spokesperson from DNR where Griffin’s body was found. They did not want to release that information out of respect for her family.

Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.

DNR officials released this statement following the recovery saying, “We extend our gratitude to all of the officers, investigators and divers involved, as well as the supportive Greenwood community and everyone who offered additional help. Our heartfelt condolences remain with the victim’s family and loved ones.”

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