Police in Georgia say they have recovered a body believed to be the son of rapper Lil Jon.
The rapper’s son, Nathan Smith, was reported missing on Feb. 3, according to the Milton Police Department.
Milton Police shared a statement on Friday saying that officers had responded to a report of a missing adult in the area of Baldwin Drive in Milton, Georgia.
“Responding officers determined that a Milton resident, Nathan Smith, had left his residence under unusual circumstances and could not be located,” the statement continued. “The Milton Police Department immediately began search efforts and coordinated with multiple partner agencies that assisted in searching for Mr. Smith over the following several days.”
In this March 22, 2014, file photo, Nathan Smith aka DJ Young Slade (L) and Lil Jon perform onstage during 97.1 AMP RADIO’s Amplify 2014 concert at the Hollywood Palladium in Hollywood, Calif.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images for CBS Radio, Inc., FILE
When they were unable to locate Smith, teams expanded their search to a pond in Mayfield Park near Smith’s Milton residence, police said.
At approximately 11:53 a.m. on Friday, divers with the Cherokee County Fire Department located and recovered a body from the pond believed to be Nathan Smith, according to police.
Official confirmation by the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office is pending, police added.
The Milton Police Department noted there was “no indication of foul play,” but that the criminal investigations division would “continue to treat this as an open and active investigation.”
“No further details will be released until the official cause and manner of death are determined by the Fulton County Medical Examiner and all investigative leads have been thoroughly examined,” the department stated.
“We extend our deepest condolences to the Smith family during this difficult time,” police added. “The department respectfully asks the community and members of the media to honor the family’s request for privacy as they grieve and navigate this tragedy.”
A rep for Lil Jon shared a statement from the rapper with ABC News on Friday, saying that he and Smith’s mother, Nicole Smith, are “extremely heartbroken for the tragic loss” of their son.
“Nathan was the kindest human being you would ever meet,” Lil Jon wrote. “He was immensely caring, thoughtful, polite, passionate, and warmhearted – he loved his family and the friends in his life to the fullest.”
In this June 25, 2016, file photo, DJ Young Slade attends 2016 EpicFest held at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, Calif.
Richard Shotwell/Invision via AP, FILE
He continued, “He was an amazingly talented young man; a music producer, an artist and engineer, and graduate of NYU. We loved Nathan with all of our hearts and are incredibly proud of him. He was loved and appreciated, and in our last times together we’re comforted in knowing that we expressed that very sentiment to him.”
Lil Jon thanked those who had supported them amid the search “over the last several days,” as well as the Milton Police Department and other police departments and rescue groups who assisted in the effort.
Smith was born in 1998 to Lil Jon and then-girlfriend Nicole Smith. The former couple married in 2004 and amicably separated in 2022, according to People.
In an interview with The Quintessential Gentleman in March 2025, Smith recalled the moment that his dad brought him to an after-party that he was DJing.
“I just saw him rocking the crowd. He was on the mic, and he was just playing all the jams where everybody was dancing,” Smith told the outlet at the time. “Telling them to put their hands up, they put their hands up, telling them to put them down, they put them down. And I was like, Oh my God, I’m so excited to be here.”
He continued, “It impressed me. We went home and he put on this app Serato on my computer. I was messing around with some beats and songs and he was like, ‘Man that sounds cool.’ So he set me up with some turntables, and that was history.”
“He just taught me a few things and just let me do my thing,” he added.
