Willy Castillo said he knows his son is dead. Now, Castillo is desperate to find the body of the 8-year-old boy who fell into the Chicago River on Sunday so he can give him a proper burial and say goodbye.
Rescue workers scoured the river’s North Branch with sonar near West Carmen and North Albany avenues on Wednesday hoping to find Cashmere Castillo. The Castillo family said police wanted to concentrate on that part of the river because the sonar equipment sensed objects in that area the day before.
As divers swam up and down the brown, fast-paced waters, Castillo, frustrated and overcome by emotion, said he thought the process was going very slowly. At the day’s end, the divers came back empty-handed.
“It’s torturing me,” Castillo said. “They’re (the police) doing the best they can. But as a parent, it’s not good enough.”
Cashmere fell into the river four days earlier after he jumped a fence while playing a game of tag in Eugene Field Park, his family said.
His brother Christian Castillo, 13, ran to the river and yelled for help, but the strong current swept the youngest son away, and neither knew how to swim.
When Willy Castillo heard the news, he ran into the freezing river and searched for his son. But it was too late.
During the first three days of the search, divers found nothing but debris, rocks and sandbags in the river, police said. On Wednesday, Chicago police cars and marine unit trucks lined the streets near the river as a Chicago Fire Department helicopter circled above for nearly an hour.
Family members said Christian is having a hard time dealing with the tragedy. Since the accident happened, Christian’s friends have stopped by the family’s home, before and after school, hoping to comfort the oldest son.
“(Christian) can’t really sleep,” said Merrell Castillo, the mother of both boys. “Every time he closes his eyes, he sees his brother asking for help.”
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