The body of a 16-year-old boy was recovered on Tuesday after he went missing the night before in Lake Worth, according to authorities. The boy had been wading in the lake with friends when he disappeared.
Around 8 p.m. on June 6, Fort Worth and Lake Worth rescue crews arrived at Camp Joy Park in the 9600 block of Watercress Drive on the west side of Lake Worth after receiving a report of a possible drowning, according to a Fort Worth Fire Department spokesman.
Game wardens, the Fort Worth Marshal Division’s Lake Patrol, and Fort Worth firefighters searched late into the night Monday night and resumed early Tuesday.
Around 9:15 a.m., nearly 13 hours after the initial report, the victim’s body was found.
Later in the day, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office positively identified the body as Sergio Molina. A representative for the Fort Worth Police Department, Officer Daniel Segura, verified that Molina was the subject of the missing person report.
One woman who lives near the park described seeing a significant number of emergency responders on Monday night and Tuesday morning.
“All the ambulances, the fire trucks, medics, the dive team, helicopters, and all that,” said Mary Laird. “So, we just sat on the porch and watched.”
“The typical lake-water drowning response can be very, very large,” explained Matt Zavadsky. “So in addition to Medstar or other EMS response, depending on where it occurs, you’re definitely going to get a large fire presence. The fire department has a dive team. Or the police department has dive teams.”
“Just in the month of May this year, we’ve responded to seven drowning cases. Last May, May 2021… we only had one,” Zavadsky added. “Drowning is a very silent event. If you’re not watching for someone going under the water and going back out, it can go unnoticed.”