Family: 3-year-old boy, rescuer drown in SC pond

Family members said Michael Crowley and Teddy Gainey Jr. were like big brothers to 3-year-old Weldon McElveen.

"They were with him every day. Every day," said McElveen's step-grandmother Buffy Boatwright.

She broke down in tears Monday, telling The Herald’s news partner, WSOC-TV, that her baby grandson and Gainey are gone.

"We're still in shock over it. It's hard to believe," she said.

Investigators said Gainey and Crowley took little Weldon fishing out in a canoe Friday afternoon on a little pond behind the boy's house off Patrick Society Hill Road.

The pond is invisible from the highway, and there is a wooded path to get there.

At some point, the small canoe flipped over. Crowley told deputies when they all went into the water, he put the boy on Teddy Gainey's back so Gainey could swim to shore with him.

Instead, they both went under. When the 3-year-old briefly surfaced, Crowley grabbed him and carried him to shore. He ran to the child's parents who were next door, and they drove to a convenience store where EMTs met them and started CPR. They were not able to resuscitate the child.

Jerry Butler, with Patrick Rescue Squad, was one of the first at the pond.

"When the rescue members came up we started to do a search around the banks to see if we could see anything else. We were met by a gentleman who said there was somebody still in the water," Butler said. "I saw the canoe, two paddles, and a tackle box in the water."

Dive teams found Gainey's body in the pond about 90 minutes later, near where Crowley told them he went under.

Family members said Weldon was a bright 3-year-old who loved the outdoors. His father spoke to WSOC, calling Crowley and Gainey heroes for trying so hard to save his son's life.

Butler said the ordeal devastated volunteers and rescue crews.

"Everybody was sitting here crying and everything. It hit everybody hard," he said. "Our captain told us we could get help if we needed it."

Weldon’s grandmother said she considered Crowley and Gainey to be like sons to her. She said everyone is suffering.

"It’s just a tremendous loss, for both families, and if there was some way we could change it we would," she said.

Alcohol tests are being done on Gainey, and Crowley submitted to a blood test as well, police records show. A deputy did spot an empty beer can floating in the water at the pond.

The Department of Natural Resources, the Chesterfield County Sheriff's Office and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Divison are still investigating the incident. No charges have been filed.

This story was originally published April 7, 2015 at 7:39 AM with the headline "Family: 3-year-old boy, rescuer drown in SC pond."