His name was Christopher.
The body of 12-year-old Christopher Jackson was pulled from the waters of the Vermilion River on Friday, less than a quarter of a mile from where he reportedly went under the water and didn’t resurface, according to a press release by the Danville Police Department. Christopher was said to be swimming with friends.
The Commercial-News was on the phone with Christopher’s family shortly after his father received news that his son had been found. Cries of anguish could be heard as the father pleaded to see his son.
According to Christopher’s aunt, Deborah Davis, Danville Police had said they were taking his body to Bloomington for an autopsy.
On July 15, three boys went down to the Vermilion River, but only two boys returned. Danville Police released a press release Tuesday, July 16, alerting the community to a missing 12-year-old boy, but did not give his name or release a photo.
Police Chief Christopher Yates said law enforcement did not release Christopher’s name because he was a juvenile. He added that the family had shared the boy’s photo on social media.
“On (July 15, 2024), around 8:11 p.m., two juveniles notified Danville Police that a third juvenile had gone missing in the Vermilion River near the 100 block of Commercial Street,” police said in the news release. “Danville Police immediately responded to the scene and began looking for a 12-year-old male juvenile who had reportedly been swimming near the riverbank when he was overcome by the current and pulled under the water.”
Christopher was a friendly kid, according to Davis.
“He’s a funny kid, a very funny kid, a very silly kid,” Davis said Friday. “He’s very bubbly, always got to make a joke. You can try to be mean to him and he will turn it into a joke. He loves his siblings and being with his family.”
She said Christopher was a gamer, and that he didn’t know how to swim.
“It was just all about wanting to have fun with his friends,” she said. “If it ever crossed his mind that this was going to happen to him, I don’t think he would have ever gone that far. It was a long walk (down to the riverbank). He just wanted to be a kid and have some friends, that was it.”
His family wants answers as to how Christopher ended up in the water, says Davis.
“When we first heard about it, and they called me, they said Chris was with friends by a lake and supposedly slipped into the water and it took him under. One of the boys tried to grab for him and couldn’t.”
She traveled to Danville from Iowa as soon as she heard Christopher was missing.
“I came down there (by the river) and there were lots of people down there. They wouldn’t let us close,” Davis said of the early days of the search. “We asked (police) ‘Did you find anything, keys, clothes any little thing?’ They said they found nothing.”
Davis said the family was told that security cameras on the Untouchables Motorcycle Club could have footage of the boys going to and coming back from the river, and they requested to view it.
“They had footage of the kids,” she said. “We seen three boys walking to go down there but saw two little boys come out and not my nephew.”
Davis said she was told the two juvenile boys that were said to be with her nephew ran to the Public Safety Building (PSB) to get help.
“An officer heard the call and went straight from the police station and ran down (to the river) himself and started searching before anyone else could get there,” she said.
Davis also said a detective asked her on Thursday about an alleged video that was circulating on social media of when her nephew went into the water. She said she had not seen a video but believes there is one based on what she has been told.
“We just want some understanding,” she said. “We just want to see him one more time. He has a brother and three sisters.”
Davis said the family wants to thank everyone who was out looking for her nephew.
“I just want to thank everyone that was out from here to all over the world,” she said.
Christopher will be remembered by his family as being a “very friendly kid.”
“I like to call the little boys luv bugs because little boys are supposed to be so bad, but they have a soft side, a caring side, and Christopher had that.”