BOISE, Idaho — There have been a few drownings at Lucky Peak this summer. As of Thursday, one man was still missing.
“I haven't been able to sleep at night,” Sarah Gracia Mendoza said.
Mendoza is the girlfriend of Jose Nunez, a man believed to have drowned in Lucky Peak.
“I haven't been able to really eat as far as emotionally, I’m a mess,” Mendoza said.
She was with the 47-year-old when he was at Lucky Peak on July 31. That was the last time she saw him.
“We went out to the lake to have fun. I was out on jet skis and he went out with a couple of friends," Mendoza said. "They got off the boat to swim and he went under never came back up."
Nunez was not wearing a life jacket at the time.
“Waiting for them to find him, it's been really, really hard and since he's been gone, things are just broke, falling apart,” Mendoza said. “It's just really, really difficult.”
KTVB checked with the Ada County Sheriff's Office and as of Thursday, a spokesperson said while the active search has been suspended, marine patrol checks the area where Nunez was last seen several times a day, but he has not surfaced.
Mendoza has now created a GoFundMe to raise money to have search and rescue non-profit Bruce’s Legacy continue the search for Nunez.
“Bruce's Legacy is actually a company that searches for drowning victims in bodies - big masses of water, versus legacies actually found bodies in 1500 feet of water,” Mendoza said. “So, where he went under, he was in about 190 feet of water. So, in the initial search, they were unable to find them because it is really deep.”
She went on to say, they are continuing to search so they can have peace.
“I just don't want to leave him there on the bottom of the lake,” Mendoza said.
Loved ones said Nunez loved horses and racing and his daughter was his whole world.
“He was an amazing person, he was an amazing person," Mendoza said. "A lot of people loved him. He was always smiling and always happy and it's hard to know that he's just gone."
Mendoza adds the money raised will also go toward funeral expenses.
You can find that GoFundMe page by clicking here.
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