Victor Villanueva

Victor Villanueva died helping to save JaeVictor Villanueva from drowning, Seguin, Texas, June 13, 2021. Villanueva, 30, lumberyard worker, had taken JaeVictor, 9, and two younger sons, Elijah, 6, and Jaevyen, 5, to fish and wade in shallow water surrounding a small island in the Seguin River when JaeVictor, who is autistic and nonverbal, stepped into water about 15 feet deep near an undertow. JaeVictor’s brothers followed trying to help him, followed by Villanueva, who reached JaeVictor about 25 feet from the island. Villanueva passed JaeVictor to a woman who swam to them before Villanueva submerged. As the woman brought JaeVictor to wadable water, the woman’s nieces approached the other two boys and grasped them. Both boys were passed off to another woman who kept them in wadable water, but one of the women submerged after passing off the boy she had rescued to her cousin. The Villanueva boys were unharmed. The body of the woman who submerged rescuing one of the boys was found that evening; Villanueva’s body was found the next day; they had both drowned.