(AP) — Authorities said they’ve found the body of a Mississippi man who drowned after helping his child out of the water.
Justin Perkins’ body was recovered on Wednesday afternoon after he drowned in the Rankin County side of the Ross Barnett Reservoir on Sunday, news outlets reported.
Perkins, 32, was on a boat Sunday as his children played in the water while wearing floating devices, Ross Barnett Reservoir police Lt. Trevell Dixon told The Clarion Ledger. The wind picked up and one of the children started panicking in the water before Perkins jumped in to save them, he added.
The family told WAPT-TV that Perkins didn’t grab his life jacket before jumping in to save his 5-year-old son. Dixon said Perkins was able to get the child back on the family’s boat but then disappeared into the water.
Reservoir police along with local and state agencies have been on the search for Perkins since Sunday amid the difficult weather conditions, Dixon said.
Police are glad to give the family some kind of closure, even if it’s not the “closure we would like,” he added.