San Diego man drowns after saving two young boys in Colorado River
Brady went to Granite Hills High School where he met his longtime friends, Summer Needham and Joann Ripley.
That friendship lasted decades, and that's why it's so hard for them to learn to live without him.
'They were the fun boys to be around,' Ripley said when asked what Brady was like in high school.
'He was a giant of a man, but his heart was pure gold,' Needham said, smiling.
That years-long friendship was cut short too soon.
'The shock hit like how is this really real,' Ripley said.
It was a regular weekend fishing trip on the Colorado River near the Hidden Shores Resort in Yuma, Arizona for Brady, his girlfriend Elen Ellis, his twin brother Greg, and their loved ones.
'They did it almost every weekend during the summer,' Ripley said.
The summer fun quickly turned tragic when Ellis' 10- and 12-year-old nephews were swept away by the river's current.
'The boys, they know how to swim and everything, so it's just the current at the river this weekend happened to be pretty strong, and it swept the little one out, and then it just snowballed from there,' Needham said.
Needham says Brady dove into action immediately, swimming out to the boys to keep them above water until they could get help.
'It's not shocking or surprising at all that he was the one that went in after them and saved them,' Ripley said.
While struggling to battle the strong current, Ripley says Greg and his girlfriend jumped in after Jeff to help save the boys.
'There was a boat that showed out of nowhere, and they were able to throw the boys on the boat and Julie on the boat, and Greg turned around, and Jeff was gone,' Needham said.
Several agencies, including the Yuma County Sheriff's Office responded to the river, searching for Brady after he was swept under the water, but at 7:20 pm, they found him and pronounced him dead on the scene.
'She's just heartbroken and misses him,' Ripley said of Jeff's girlfriend. 'She wants the one more hug, the one more walk through the door, the one more everything that she's not gonna get anymore.'
Even though the friends will miss the hugs, laughs, and fun reunions, they say their proud to know he died a hero.
'We want people to know how amazing he was,' Needham said. 'He went out with his angel wings on.'
Needham says she set up a GoFundMe page to support the family after his death.
She adds Jeff moved to Yuma two months ago to take care of his dad who had some medical concerns, and the money help support him as they mourn Jeff's loss.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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