Eric Patillo, father of two boys who were pulled from the Kankakee River in Indiana, could face criminal charges in connection with the deaths, officials said.
The father of two Indiana boys who apparently drowned in the Kankakee River was arrested and facing neglect charges in their deaths, officials said Wednesday.
A second man was being sought in connection with the deaths of siblings Levi Patillo, 4, and Evan Patillo, 2, Chicago's FOX 32 reported.
The boys were pronounced dead Tuesday evening after witnesses found them unresponsive in the river in southwestern Lake County near the Indiana-Illinois border, Lake County Sheriff Oscar Martinez said.
The father, Eric J. Patillo, 34, may have been using drugs at the time and did not notice when his sons went under the water, the Tribune News Service reported.
Investigators were also searching for Jesse Brandon Linter, 31, whom they believe was with Patillo's sons, the report said.
Investigators are searching for Jesse Brandon Linter, 31, who they believe was with Patillo's sons.
Linter reportedly fled before police could question him.
Autopsies were scheduled to determine the cause of death of the siblings, whom Martinez said appeared to have drowned.
"It's a tragedy. It's unfortunate that something like this happened," he said at a news conference. "It's tough."
The boys' mother, Savannah Sanders, 29, told the Chicago Tribune that her "stomach just hurts" at the news.
“They were just amazing children and I want them back,” Sanders said. “I’m never going to get them back.”
Martinez said two men who were fishing along the river noticed Patillo with his sons acting strangely, apparently lapsing in and out of unconsciousness and possibly under the influence of drugs.
“They were just amazing children and I want them back. I’m never going to get them back.”
Anthony Kyle and Dylan Sherwood told WGN their observations of Patillo, with Kyle saying Patillo was "definitely impaired" and there was "just something off" about him, the Tribune News Service reported.
“He was so impaired that he couldn’t even get a worm on the hook,” Kyle said. “He was stabbing himself in the finger with the worm on the hook.”
The men told investigators that Patillo was going in and out of the river and they last saw his sons in waist-deep water.
“I knew something bad was going to happen,” Kyle said.
A few minutes later, Martinez said, the men saw Patillo jumping into the river and grew concerned because they could no longer see the two children.
"So they starting looking for the kids and found them in the water. One was floating on top of the water and one was underneath the water, unresponsive," Martinez said.
The fishermen said there is a lot of heroin use in the area and thought the father could have taken the drug.
The sheriff said the boys were found near a boat launch at the LaSalle Fish and Wildlife Area.
“They were just so full of life,” Sanders said. “I just wish we could have seen what they would become.”
Results of drug and alcohol tests were still pending on Patillo.
“They were just so full of life. I just wish we could have seen what they would become.”
Sanders said her husband "would never have intentionally hurt" their sons.
"He loved them," she told Chicago's WBBM-TV.
Patillo could face 20 to 40 years in prison if charged and convicted, according to the Tribune.
The family is from Thayer, Ind., a community with just over 350 residents, the report said. The Kankakee River, where the boys were found, is less than a mile northwest of their home, relatives told the paper.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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