The body of a missing Vancouver, Washington, man, James Rennells, was discovered near a park after his family spent Christmas searching for him.
A search crew discovered his body Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2017, hiding in bushes. His fiancée, Kashala Wilkinson, spoke to the man right before his disappearance, saying that their 7-month-old daughter suffers from heart problems.
His cause of death is not clear.
Rennells’s sister, Janice Kreier, added to KATU: “It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever been through in my life. It’s like someone took the breath from my chest.”
“I just don’t understand it,” Rennells’s father, Dan Rennells, told the publication. “There was no reason for him to be out here that we can conceive.”
His father said that it appears that Rennells died of hypothermia.
“He meant the world to me. No matter what, he was always there for me and my other brothers that are my sponsee brothers. He worked the steps. He did what he is supposed to do. He took care of his family. He was there for his baby,” a man, who said that he was his sponsor, told the crowd. “But the bottom line is that he’s with God and that’s what counts.”