(Memphis) There’s a mystery about the deaths of two Memphis men who went to Illinois for work and never came back.
Authorities say Anthony Grays and Mario Jackson drowned in a pond, but their families are having a tough time believing that they died that way.
“It seems strange to me that he wound up in a pond buck-naked and with his friend right beside him with his clothes fully on,” said Bernard Grays, Anthony’s father.
The two men were found dead Monday night in Marshal County, Ill. They went there for work with a Memphis contractor but died days later near the job site.
“What are police telling you?” asked reporter Sabrina Hall.
“That they drowned. That my son drowned trying to save Mario,” said Grays.
He says the story doesn’t seem right.
“How deep was the water?” asked Hall.
“Five feet.”
“ And how tall was he?”
“Six foot three,” said Grays. “That’s impossible.”
Family members say both men were more than 6 feet tall, both could swim, and Bernard says he knows their relationship with the contractor included more than just work.
“Partying,” said Grays. “When they would come down here they would probably get him some drugs or whatever and bring it back to him.”
“So the contractor was into drugs?” asked Hall. “What kind of drugs?”
“Crack?”
“Pills and whatever. Meth”
Bernard says now the contractor is MIA.
“We haven`t heard from him! No one has heard from him,” said Grays.
Bernard says he is willing to accept the two friends drowned if someone could just answer how.
“Somebody was there. Somebody seen something,” said Grays. “Somebody knows something .”
The medical examiner is waiting on toxicology results.
Family and friends plan to hold a candle light vigil Friday night at 7 p.m. at the corner of Vance and 4th.