New Braunfels police investigating after Mexican national drowns in Guadalupe River | Community Alert

New Braunfels police on Monday had not released the identity of a 28-year-old Mexican national who drowned in the Guadalupe River Saturday evening.

“The identity of the man is being withheld pending notification of next of kin,” David Ferguson, city communications coordinator said Monday morning.

New Braunfels police and fire units, responding to reports of a possible drowning arrived at the Gruene River Bridge in the 1400 block of Gruene Road around 6:05 pm

Ferguson said people who were with the man said he had been swimming in the area when he went under the water and did not immediately resurface.

“Paramedics were able to locate the male and he was pulled from the water after being under for approximately 20 minutes,” he said. “Life saving measures were unsuccessful and the man was pronounced deceased at the scene.”

Comal County Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace Tom Clark ordered an autopsy. Ferguson said the drowning appears to be accidental and foul play is not suspected in the first reported death on area waterways in 2022.

Eleven drowned in 2021, including six on Canyon Lake, four on the Guadalupe River and one on the Comal River. All were ruled as accidental by investigating agencies.

Guadalupe River deaths included Manishabahen Patel, 37, of Charlotte, North Carolina, during a family outing last Oct. 31; Jesus Miguel Romero, 18, of New Braunfels, found on a river bank in the 1200 block of Gruene Road on July 30; and Victor Villanueva, 30, and Casandra Kendrick, 22, both of Guadalupe County, who died June 13 while trying to save children caught in swift current near the Farm-to-Market Road 1117 bridge.

On July 2, Albert L. Aranda, 62, of Farmington, New Mexico, died after going through the city Tube Chute on the Comal River, which had its last drowning when Devon Walton, 22, of Houston, died while tubing with friends on May 30, 2020.