Over the weekend, a man drowned in Gracie Rock – right where a 10 year old boy had drowned three weeks ago. It happened on Sunday evening around 6:00 when 35 year old Leroy Betson, was swimming with four friends and went underwater near a cable suspension bridge. He never resurfaces and his body was found by a search team hours later. Today, we spoke to his mother, Joyce Flowers who went out to the scene at the time of the search.
Joyce Flowers - Mother of Leroy Betson
"I didn't even know he wasn't here because he lives in his own house, until we got the call at about quarter past six the evening. My daughter answered the call and when I saw her reaction then I realized something was wrong and then she told me that a friend called to say that she had called for him and the person who answered Leroy's phone told her that they were at Gracie Rock and Leroy went down into the water and never resurfaced."
Monica Bodden
"Did you guys had a chance to go out to the scene?"
Joyce Flowers
"Yes we did immediately. Earline's husband heard us screaming and he came, so they took me out to Gracie Rock. We were there and the police from Hattieville arrived after. They didn't go down the bank; I call it the bank by the side where the river is and I don't know what they did because I couldn't go down. It is very steep so I had to stay up but apparently they were trying to look for something. My son in law told me that the police said that they couldn't do anymore search because night had fallen and he and another guy from Gracie Rock asked the police to give them five minutes permission to feel satisfied and so they went down and the young man found him as soon as they went down."
Monica Bodden
"Do you understand Mrs. Flowers what may have went wrong? How your son went under? Do you know him to be a swimmer?"
Joyce Flowers
"Yes, I wouldn't say he is a professional swimmer but I know he can swim a bit. I don't know but from what some people in the village told me that it is very dangerous down there because there is a hole and if you go into the hole it is like quick sand and so it sucks you down, that is what I believe happened. That is what happened because they are saying that it is the same place where the child drowned on Easter weekend."
Leroy Betson leaves behind an 8 year old child.
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