The San Joaquin County Medical Examiner confirmed Tuesday that a body located in the Calaveras River in Stockton was of 15-year-old Xavier Martinez who had been missing for six days.
A local volunteer diver, Juan Heredia, entered the body of water early Tuesday morning in an attempt to help Martinez’s family and within 30 minutes found the teen.
After a report was made last Wednesday that a child was believed to have jumped in the water who had not reemerged, law enforcement and first responders had actively searched the waters without any results.
According to Heredia, he found the body of a boy after 30 minutes of searching low-visibility waters on Tuesday morning. The body was not caught in any materials, but was in a standing position.
District officials said Martinez and another teenage boy had been involved in a fight on campus before they both jumped in the water. The other boy came to the surface and survived.
District officials alleged that they did not pursue the teens off campus, but Martinez’s mom questioned why her child was chased off campus during an interview last week.
“I just want to know what happened and why did the school chase him into this water?” she said. “I just feel like they shouldn’t have even chased him. He was already off the school property.”
The San Joaquin County Sheriffs boating unit had been doing water searches since last Wednesday, but said last week that they would stop searching the water and move to ground searches.