COLLIERVILLE, Tenn. — A Collierville family is heartbroken and frustrated tonight, after the body believed to be their loved one, 28-year-old Kevin Mercado, was discovered this weekend in Nonconnah Creek.
This comes after police reported Mercado was missing after a crash early Thursday morning. A video shows the moments the family members of Kevin Mercado found pieces of his clothing in the Nonconnah Creek Sunday.
Additionally, they discovered his shoe as well while searching for the 28-year-old. Sadly, their detective work led to a body, which is believed to be Kevin’s.
” I never stopped, believing,” Antonio Mercado, Kevin’s father, said.
Mercado showed us his scratched hands from the search.
“I never lost hope. Never,” Mercado said.
The family’s search lasted some 72 hours after he crashed his car off of Highway 385 near Forrest Hill Irene and Houston Levee. Dozens of family members and friends spent days walking the wooded area near the crash.
The family says shortly after Kevin crashed his Mustang, officers came to their home around 3:30 Thursday morning believing Kevin was hiding at the house. But, Kevin wasn’t there.
His brother Larry thinks he was scared so he ran from the scene. But tonight he’s frustrated by the time it took to put a notice out that Kevin had not been located. And he says because of his family’s initiative, they led officers to the area of Kevin’s body.
“They should’ve been finding at least something, it just doesn’t add up,” Larry Mercado, Kevin’s brother, said.
Tonight as the family grieves, they remember Kevin as an outgoing father, who loved his friends and community and he loved to cook.
Collierville Police say they’re now waiting on official word from the medical examiner.
