Bradley Eugene Murphy died attempting to save a 12-year-old boy and rescue Steven B. Wahler from drowning, Gulf Shores, Alabama, October 9, 2017. The boy was playing in the Gulf of Mexico when a rip current carried him to a point about 100 feet from shore into water over his head. Waves up to 5 feet high were breaking close to shore when Murphy, 21, landscaper, and Steven B. Wahler, 47, were alerted to the boy’s plight by his mother. After Wahler entered the water and swam to the boy they were separated by a passing wave, and Wahler was carried farther from shore by the current. The boy’s mother moved toward her son in the rough surf, reached him, and began to return him to shore. Murphy entered the water and began to swim toward them, then continued swimming past them toward Wahler. As Murphy appeared to reach Wahler both men submerged, disappearing from view. The boy was led from the water by his mother, examined by medics who had arrived at the scene, but he was not injured. Wahler was recovered about two hours later, he had drowned. Murphy was recovered the next day. He, too, had drowned.
89428 – 10064
89428-10064Obituary
Bradley Eugene Murphy, age 21, died on Oct. 9, 2017.
Murphy was survived by his father; Fred Murphy; mother, Mary (Jerry) Dueitt, Jr.; fiancé, Ambrielle Pitzulo; brothers, Tyler Murphy, Jeremy Dueitt, and Jerry Dueitt; sister, Cathryn Murphy; and paternal grandmother, Darlene (Eugene) Boros.
He was buried at Valhalla Memorial Gardens.
(Edited from an obituary published by the Valhalla Funeral Home in Eight Mile, Ala. at valhallafh.com.)