Two brothers have died in the Trinity River near Willow Creek, becoming the fifth fatality on the waterway this summer in Humboldt County. Deputies identified the victims as 45-year-old Lex Rincon of Arcata and 18-year-old Krishna Rincon of New York, according to a press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office.
The search began after deputies responded to Tagmeyer Beach in Willow Creek at 10:14 AM on Wednesday, following a report that a swimmer had been seen struggling in the river the day before, per Redheaded Blackbelt. Deputies found the individual's vehicle still parked overnight at the beach, which prompted an extensive search of the river and the surrounding river bar. The Sheriff's Office Special Services Division assisted deputies in that search, and they ultimately located two deceased individuals in the water.
The Sheriff's Office has notified the next of kin of both Lex Rincon and Krishna Rincon, who were brothers. While the circumstances surrounding the deaths remain under investigation, officials say they appear consistent with drowning. The precise cause and manner of death remain pending, with autopsies scheduled for early next week.
A Deadly Summer Along the Trinity Corridor
The Rincon brothers' deaths bring the total number of summer fatalities on the Trinity River in Humboldt County to five this year, a toll made up of four drownings and one natural cardiac event, according to Redheaded Blackbelt's reporting on the county's mortality data. On July 16, a person drowned in the Campbell Creek area of the river in Hoopa after stepping into chest-deep water and being swept under by strong currents; rescuers recovered that individual using a patrol boat and attempted CPR before declaring them deceased, per the county.
Two days later, a 45-year-old woman tubing on the river near Burwood Lane in Willow Creek drowned after her inner tube overturned in strong currents and her life vest snagged on a submerged tree branch, according to Lost Coast Outpost. Friends managed to free her from the branch and performed CPR before emergency crews arrived, though she did not survive. The incident underscored how even flotation gear cannot guarantee safety when underwater hazards are involved.
An autopsy completed yesterday also clarified an earlier case: a 63-year-old man recovered from the river at Kimtu Beach on July 22 died from a sudden natural cardiac event rather than drowning, reversing the apparent-drowning classification given by initial emergency reports in July, the county's findings show.
Cold Water Hiding Beneath a Hot Summer
The Humboldt County Sheriff's Office warned in July that high summer air temperatures can mask deceptively cold river water, which is capable of causing muscle paralysis and cold shock within seconds, as reported by SFGATE. Even when the surface looks calm, officials say, cold water temperatures fed by upstream conditions remain hazardous throughout the summer season. National U.S. Coast Guard statistics cited by Hoodline show that 87 percent of recreational boating drowning victims were not wearing a life jacket at the time of the incident, a figure that safety agencies point to when urging voluntary life jacket use during open-water recreation.
Because so much of unincorporated Humboldt County lies far from the nearest fire station or hospital, the Sheriff's Office leans on multi-agency dispatch partnerships with tribal law enforcement and volunteer fire departments, including the Hoopa Tribal Police Department, whose officers are often positioned closer to river emergencies than county units. In May, the Sheriff's Office received a $5,000 community donation to purchase 10 water rescue kits for patrol vehicles across the county, equipping first-arriving deputies with gear before specialized swift-water teams can reach the scene.
The dangers of the river's swift currents and tree-entanglement hazards are not new. In May 2024, searchers recovered the remains of a 19-year-old man from the Trinity River near Hoopa after a multi-week search, following his disappearance at Tish Tang Campground the previous month — a case that illustrated how difficult river bar terrain can extend recovery efforts for weeks. The cause and manner of death for Lex and Krishna Rincon remain undetermined pending the autopsies scheduled for next week.
