The body of a Valdosta State University student was recovered from the Mississippi River Sunday, days after friends saw the man fall into the river after a concert.
Pace Ervin Taylor, 19, was walking along the river near Memphis Friday night when he slipped and fell in, the Valdosta Daily Times reported. The Tallahassee, Fla., native was a rising sophomore and a member of the Mu Nu Chapter of Sigma Nu Fraternity, Inc., VSU said in a statement obtained by the newspaper.
Taylor was with friends at a Widespread Panic concert on the Mud Island peninsula when he jumped a concrete barrier wall and made his way to the river bank, Memphis police said.
Police announced Sunday afternoon that a body was recovered from the river. Taylor's mother confirmed to local ABC affiliate WATN-TV that it was her son.
Taylor’s friends said they were leaving the concert when Taylor made a joke about jumping in the river because it was so hot, the Daily Times reported. His friends tried to help him, but the current was too strong and he was swept away.
The family will have a service for him Friday, according to the newspaper.
"The death of a student affects the entire VSU community, and every member of our Blazer Nation family sends the deepest expressions of sympathy to Pace’s family and friends as they process this devastating loss," a spokesman for the university said in the statement.
