Community members in Sanford, Maine, are banding together to support a family who recently lost two teenage stepbrothers who drowned in a river.
Authorities found the bodies of 17-year-old Tavayne Weir and 16-year-old D’Andre Graham in the Mousam River late Sunday, July 7.
That day, the boys told their parents they were going to a local recreation area with a roped-off swimming area at the river. After they missed their 10 p.m. curfew, their parents grew concerned and called the police.
At 11 p.m., officers found the boys’ car in the recreation area’s parking lot but couldn’t find the boys. They called in the fire department to help with the search efforts.
After a nearly two-hour search, authorities discovered the teens’ bodies in the river.
Their bodies were found floating about a quarter-mile from a 30-foot cliff that sits over a pool in the river where people often swim. People were seen jumping from that cliff the day after the boys’ bodies were discovered, WMTW reported.
Authorities aren’t sure whether the boys jumped from the cliff or ran into complications while merely swimming in the pool area. They’re still awaiting autopsy results to determine how exactly they died.
“We don’t know if they were jumping or just swimming because we don’t know exactly what time they went in. We assume they were probably by themselves as well because we had no calls from that area that anybody was in distress or actively drowning,” Maj. Matthew Gagne of the Sanford Police Department said.
In the days after the drownings, community members started fundraisers to help the boys’ family members pay for funeral expenses.
Both boys and their families are originally from Jamaica. Tavayne and his mother moved to Sanford a few years ago and have been involved in the community ever since, according to Foster’s Daily Democrat.
D’Andre and his father were planning to move to Sanford soon. They were in town last week to visit Tavayne and his mother. Their parents got married last year.
Several community members were familiar with Tavayne after he moved to the area. A child care center director who started one online fundraiser remarked that he was always “polite,” “magnetic,” and had a “feel-good personality.”
Both boys were also reportedly very close and had plans to become DoorDashers once D’Andre moved to the area.
“They were more than stepbrothers; they were true brothers to each other. Growing up in Jamaica, they did everything together, from playing basketball and riding bikes to gaming,” the fundraising page said. “They showed incredible courage and loyalty, holding on to each other until the very end, demonstrating the deep bond they shared.”
The family plans to lay the teens to rest in Jamaica.
So far, over $30,000 has been raised to help the family members pay for funeral costs after nearly 500 people donated to two separate GoFundMe pages.
