CHASSAHOWITZKA, Fla. – For the last two years Joe Kelly attended Sebastian River High School, he participated in rowing. A freak accident his junior year left his shoulder injured and unable to participate. He didn’t let it stop him.
“He was ready to go his second year,” Rowing coach Tom Lang said, remembering Kelly as an easy-going kid with an infectious laugh and good sense of humor.
Kelly passed away over the weekend while free diving in the tube-like caves near the Chassahowitzka River Campground in Citrus County. He was 21. “Joe was always one of those kids with a smile on his face,” Lang said, adding that Kelly seemed like he was always having a good time.
Kelly graduated from high school in 2007 and went on to attend the University of Central Florida to study business.
But he didn’t let college life stop him from coming back to the high school to help out the rowing crew.
“He kept coming back to cheer” them on, Lang said.
Lang said it was difficult Monday telling the crew about Kelly’s death because so many of them knew him and his family. Lang impressed upon the teens to realize the importance and quality of every second.
“Knowing Joe, he would have understood that,” Lang said.
Kelly and six friends went camping over the weekend at the Chassahowitzka River Campground, according to the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office. He and two others went free diving in the tube-like caves the area is known for Saturday night, when he suffered an unknown difficulty and died, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
A dive team recovered Kelly’s body in 8 feet of water, said Gail Tierney, a Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman.
Preliminary autopsy results indicate Kelly drowned, according to Michael Hensley, Director of Operations of District 5 Medical Examiner in Leesburg, Fla.
There was nothing to indicate that Kelly had sustained an injury prior to drowning, Hensley said. The coroner is waiting on the results of toxicology tests to see if the results shed any more light on how Kelly died. Those results could take several weeks, according to Hensley.
“A freak accident,” Lang said. “It’s crazy.”
Tierney said they received a call at 9:30 p.m. regarding a diver in trouble. Kelly’s friends resurfaced, but Kelly had not. They dove multiple times trying to find him, but couldn’t, she said.
That’s when they started shouting for help and fellow campers called authorities.
The Sheriff’s Office dive team found Kelly’s body at about 11:45 p.m., within 15 minutes of searching, and noted he was in about 8 feet of water, Tierney said. Free divers did not use any sort of breathing apparatus when diving.
Tierney explained that the dive team had been activated at 10 p.m. but took time to decide whether or not it should dive the caves in the dark. At about 11:30 p.m., they began the search.
In the meantime, a Sheriff’s helicopter was launched to search the shoreline in the event that Kelly had surfaced without his friends seeing him.
Tierney said that officials on the scene understood that this had not been Kelly’s first time diving in the area.
Survivors include his father and mother Michael and Mary Jayne Kelly, of Vero Beach; sister Shannon Rose Kelly, of Vero Beach; companion, Candace Fersch, of Vero Beach, and Zach Ramsey, of Sebastian. Mary Jayne Kelly is the Executive Director of the Cultural Council.
Funeral services for Kelly have been arranged through Cox-Gifford Funeral Home. Visitation will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 10, at the funeral home, 1950 20th St., Vero Beach. The service will be held Thursday at 3 p.m. at Community Church, 1901 23rd St., Vero Beach.
Memorial contributions may be made to Sebastian River Rowing Club, Sebastian River High School, 9001 Shark Boulevard, Sebastian, FL 32958.
Arrangements are under the direction of Cox-Gifford-Seawinds Funeral Home and Crematory, Vero Beach, Florida. Condolences may be sent through www.seawindsfh.com/obit.php.
