Body Recovered During Search For Twin Brothers Who Went Missing In Galveston

Officials have reported that a body was found during the search for twin brothers who went missing in the water near Pleasure Pier in Galveston on Sunday evening. The Galveston Island Beach Patrol stated that the body was recovered at approximately 2 a.m. on Tuesday. According to Lt. Austin Kirwin of the Galveston Island Beach Patrol, a group of four individuals discovered the body near the shoreline, brought it to the sand, and immediately contacted 911.

After the recovery of a body during the search for twin brothers who went missing in the water near Pleasure Pier in Galveston, authorities were able to confirm that it was one of the twin teenagers by examining his clothing and physical appearance. The family was subsequently notified of the discovery.

"It is some closure. We are keeping close ties and talking to the family, so we’re talking to them direct,” Kirwin said.

Family members have identified the missing boys as 13-year-old twins, Jefferson and Josue Perez. However, it remains unclear which of the brothers' bodies was discovered by officials.

Lieutenant Austin Kirwin of the Galveston Island Beach Patrol expressed some hopefulness upon the recovery of one of the boys, but he also cautioned that the waters can be unpredictable. He noted that while the discovery of one of the boys was positive news, finding the other one is not guaranteed to happen immediately or in the near future.

What happened

At approximately 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, the twin teenagers were reported missing, according to officials. After spending an hour searching for the boys, family members contacted the police at around 5:30 p.m. The mother of the twins stated that her sons were not able to swim.

"They were out in the water. The parents briefly lost sight of them and they looked back up into the area and they did not see them," Kirwin said.

According to the parents of the missing twin boys, the last time they were seen, the boys were in waist-to-chest-high water, approximately 20 yards from the west side of the pier. The teens were last spotted near Seawall Boulevard and 25th Street, and there were no reports of them going underwater.

To aid in the search efforts, the United States Coast Guard deployed helicopters while several other law enforcement agencies also assisted.

Due to the presence of dense fog in the search area, the United States Coast Guard had to halt their search efforts with their helicopter on Monday. As night fell on Monday, the Galveston Police Department took over the search, which continued into Tuesday morning.

Family members of the missing twin boys shared that the boys had been requesting to go to the beach. The family had recently relocated to Houston from Honduras in November of last year to reunite with their mother, who had moved to the Houston area about a decade ago.