{"id":454296,"date":"2026-02-07T10:27:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T10:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/454296\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T10:27:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T10:27:10","slug":"lil-jons-son-nathan-smith-found-dead-at-27-in-georgia-pond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/454296\/","title":{"rendered":"Lil Jon’s Son Nathan Smith Found Dead at 27 in Georgia Pond"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThree days after Lil Jon<\/a>\u2018s 27-year-old son, Nathan Smith, was reported missing<\/a> in Georgia, police have announced that he was found dead Friday (Feb. 6), with responders apparently recovering his body from a pond near his home.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a post on Facebook<\/a>, the Milton Police Department provided a devastating update to its Tuesday (Feb. 3) missing person\u2019s report on Nathan. \u201cOn February 6, 2026, at approximately 11:53 a.m., divers with the Cherokee County Fire Department located and recovered a body from the pond,\u201d the post reads. \u201cThe individual is believed to be Nathan Smith, pending official confirmation by the Fulton County Medical Examiner\u2019s Office.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe department went on to note that, while no foul play is suspected, it will \u201ccontinue to treat this as an open and active investigation\u201d and plans to withhold any further details until \u201cthe official cause and manner of death<\/a> are determined by the Fulton County Medical Examiner.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a statement shared with Billboard, Lil Jon \u2014 who shared Nathan with estranged wife Nicole Smith \u2014 expressed, \u201cI am extremely heartbroken for the tragic loss of my son, Nathan Smith.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHis mother and I are devastated,\u201d he continued. \u201cNathan was the kindest human being you would ever meet. He was immensely caring, thoughtful, polite, passionate, and warmhearted \u2014 he loved his family and the friends in his life to the fullest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThanking his fans for \u201call of the prayers and support\u201d as well as the numerous police and fire departments that aided in locating Nathan, the rapper also called his son \u201can amazingly talented young man; a music producer, an artist and engineer and graduate of NYU.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe loved Nathan with all of our hearts and are incredibly proud of him,\u201d Lil Jon added. \u201cHe was loved and appreciated, and in our last times together we\u2019re comforted in knowing that we expressed that very sentiment to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNathan was first reported missing the evening of Tuesday (Feb. 3). At the time, Milton police wrote on Facebook that he\u2019d \u201crun out of his house and has been missing since,\u201d warning members of the community that he \u201cmay be disoriented and in need of assistance. Family and friends are concerned for his safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a statement provided to Billboard<\/a> shortly afterward, a rep for Lil Jon said, \u201cThe family is asking for privacy at this time. We are also asking for continued prayers for Nathan to come home safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter their initial search efforts proved unsuccessful, the Milton Police Department wrote Friday that it widened its scope to include \u201ca pond in Mayfield Park near Smith\u2019s Milton residence,\u201d from which Nathan had fled.<\/p>\n

\n\tLike his father, Nathan was musically inclined, making music under the moniker DJ Young Slade. He was the only child of Lil Jon and Nicole, who were married for about 18 years before separating in 2022.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe hip-hop star also shares 1-year-old daughter Nahara with his girlfriend, business owner Jamila Sozahdah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three days after Lil Jon\u2018s 27-year-old son, Nathan Smith, was reported missing in Georgia, police have announced that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":454297,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[8609,88,498,63651],"class_list":{"0":"post-454296","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-death","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-music-news","11":"tag-nsfs"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}