Family kayaking day ‘turned into a tragedy,’ parents say. Son, 20, found dead in lake
A 20-year-old was found dead in an Oklahoma lake days after he disappeared while kayaking with his parents, his family said.
Brendan Arrington was kayaking on Lake Carl Blackwell near Stillwater on Sunday, May 19, when he went missing, Oklahoma State University Police told KOTV.
His father, Joshua Combs, said the family’s kayaking day quickly “turned into a tragedy.”
“Our 20-year-old decided to jump in the kayak and take off,” Combs said in a GoFundMe. “We didn’t think nothing of it. Hell, he is 20. A good swimmer. Smart as a whip. He will be fine, we thought. Well that couldn’t have been further from the truth.”
He still had eyes on his son about 20 minutes after he jumped in. But 30 minutes later, Combs’ wife began panicking when she couldn’t see Arrington, according to the GoFundMe.
Combs went out on his own kayak to find his son, he said. Arrington’s kayak was eventually found with no sign of the 20-year-old.
“At this point I am freaking out,” Combs said. “There’s the kayak, where the hell’s my son?”
Arrington did not have a lifejacket with him when he went into the water, police told KOCO.
Multiple departments were involved in the search for Arrington, but a Sunday night storm postponed it until Monday, KOTV reported.
Ultimately, Arrington’s body was recovered from the lake on Tuesday, an Oklahoma State University spokesperson told KOCO.
“We are still not sure what exactly happened out there,” Combs said in the GoFundMe. “My only hope is the kayak hit him in the head knocking him unconscious prior to drowning.”
Loved ones paid their respects to Arrington in Facebook posts Tuesday.
“I don’t want to believe you’re gone. Not that quickly, not like that,” Rylan Willson said. “You had achieved so much but still had so much to conquer.”
“You were an angel, brother,” Landon Steffen said. “You left your mark on so many people, I wish I could talk to you just one more time.”
Stillwater is about a 65-mile drive northeast from Oklahoma City.
This story was originally published May 22, 2024 at 9:19 AM with the headline "Family kayaking day ‘turned into a tragedy,’ parents say. Son, 20, found dead in lake."