PLACER COUNTY, Calif. — A memorial stands in the home of Erik Aguayo's uncle in American Canyon, keeping the memory and ambitions of a young man alive.
The 20-year-old from Mexico was swept away on Mother's Day by the treacherous waters of the North Fork of the American River. His body was recovered weeks later.
“He said he loved us a lot, that we would see each other very soon but I didn’t imagine it was going to be this way,” his mother Josefina Lona Gonzalez told ABC10 in Spanish.
His father Manuel Aguayo Landeros said his son, one of five children, was only in the U.S. for three months and was working at a winery with dreams of creating a better life for himself and his family before his death near Lake Clementine.
"His goal was to come here to the U.S. and help us out. Well, do something in Mexico because things are really hard there, but he couldn’t accomplish his objective. Maybe that’s how God wanted it, and we have to understand it," he told ABC10 in Spanish.
Digging deep into their faith, the family came to the U.S. on an emergency visa to take their son back to Mexico for a burial.
"My son was very loving. He came here to give it his all, but God took him away from me. And now, the only thing we can do is take him back and give him a Christian burial and so he rests in Mexico,” said Landeros.
The family is hoping the community can learn from their pain and stay away from the river so they don't have to deal with the agony.
"I ask that nobody gets in, do not get in the water. If people keep going in to swim, the river is going to keep taking people -- every time people try, the river will take them," said Landeros.
The family is raising funds through a raffle and through a GoFundMe page.
