AUSTIN — A tourist who came to town for the Austin City Limits Music Festival was declared dead after a body was discovered in the Colorado River on Monday. Officials with Travis County said he was last seen leaving a rented home early Saturday morning.
On Monday, the Travis County Sheriff's Office called off the search for missing 25-year-old Christopher White after finding the body in the river close to where he was last seen. On Wednesday, officials confirmed that the body that was found was White's.
Victim services has been working with his family.
"The pain that's in the family right now is not fully understood so we're just trying to get by," said his older brother Matt White on Sunday, who took an emergency trip to Austin to help with search efforts.
Friends and family also said on Sunday they were hopeful to find him as search efforts had been going on all day Sunday. Crews with the Austin-Travis County search-and-rescue team had several dogs out hoping to find sight of him before Monday's discovery.
"We feel like we have a lot of support right now, and rescuers are committed to finding him," said Christopher's girlfriend, Olivia Wilson.
The group of friends came to Austin for ACL Festival and told KVUE they rented a home near the Colorado River. They said their friend was then last seen Saturday at 6 a.m. leaving the home intoxicated. They last contacted him outside of the patio facing the river. When they realized he was missing around 9:30 a.m, they said they began calling local hospitals and dialed 911.
"He was a best friend, brother, boyfriend, and overall one of the happiest guys," said Beau Webb, who was among the group of friends in town visiting for ACL.
"My brother and I grew up with land and fair play, so adventuring into the wild is nothing new to us," Matt White previously said, hoping his younger brother was found safe.
Officials with the Travis County Sheriff's Office have been handling this case. They said the body was reported by a 911 caller.