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CORNELIUS, NC — WCCB News has learned more details about a man who drowned in Lake Norman Sunday evening.
The aunt he lived with, Ruth Johnson, flipped through photos a day later showing Ryan Billingslea cooking and enjoying life.
“I’m still thinking this is not real,” said Johnson. “This is a bad dream, a bad dream.”
Hours earlier she and her sisters watched divers search for his body.
911 calls for help came in Sunday night. Billingslea had jumped in the water to save a drowning friend. His friend got out, but Billingslea never resurfaced.
His family tells WCCB News he was always on the lake in his boat. He loved to fish, and he was a strong swimmer.
“We were just talking about that on the way over here,” added Johnson.
She and her sister, Amy Johnson, explained that Billingslea had talked to them about the dangers of going after someone struggling in the water.
“He’s like, ‘I’m not going to jump in the lake after somebody,'” said Ruth Johnson. “I guess when you see someone out there you know, struggling, it’s a different story because you want to help them.”
The man who Billingslea jumped in after didn’t want to talk on camera, but he said Billingslea saved his life.
“This is the kind of person he is,” said Amy Johnson. “He lost his life trying to help someone else.”
Now, his aunts don’t just see their nephew. They see a hero.
Investigators are sending out a warning in cases like this. If someone is drowning, throw them a life jacket or life preserver.
