VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – The family of a teen who was found in the river over the weekend in Edgewater said they are left with heartbreak and questions.
Sixteen-year-old Hunter McKelvin was visiting from Paisley and camping with friends and family on an island just across from Menard-May Park in Edgewater when detectives said he was found early Saturday morning.
“He was such an amazing kid. He really was. He was just a joy to be with and be around,” Nick McKelvin said.
Hunter’s parents said their son died doing what he loved most — fishing.
“I talked to him at 7:45 that morning and by 9:30 a.m. I got a call that he had passed away,” Jean McKelvin said.
Jean McKelvin said a freak accident took her son’s life. He was found face-down in inches of water next to his boat, which was beached on the sand, his parents told News 6.
“He slipped and fell and hit the back of his head and it knocked him unconscious,” Jean McKelvin said.
Family and friends found Hunter minutes later, called 911, and began CPR, the parents said.
“They thought he was just playing a game with him because he usually goes swimming with them and when they went to pull him over to see if he was just playing around with them, they realized he was in trouble,” Jean McKelvin said.
Jean McKelvin said the group was then instructed to bring Hunter by boat to Menard-May Park to meet first responders.
“In the meantime of them having to reload him into that boat to take them across to take him across to the ambulance and stuff, they lost his pulse and they could never bring it back,” Jean McKelvin said.
The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said launching a marine unit to the island would have taken longer and that directing the group to bring Hunter to shore was the fastest option in a tragic situation.
The family said an autopsy completed this week listed drowning as the cause of death. The family started a GoFundMe to help with funeral expenses.
“He was a joy to everybody’s life. The impact he had in the 16 years he had on this earth is amazing,” Nick McKelvin said.