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TYLER, Texas (KETK) – One day after the body of Eli Swinney was found in Lake Tyler, his best friends said he was a hard worker and the life of the party.

19-year old Eli Swinney was found Monday morning on Lake Tyler East after officials said he fell off the front of a boat and never resurfaced.

Two of Eli’s best friends said they were hanging out with Swinney on Saturday night and can’t believe he’s gone.

“It just don’t feel real, you know? I mean, I feel like I can text him right now and he texts me back,” best friend of Swinney, Eduardo Flores said.

Helmick said Swinney loved being out on Lake Tyler. He would go out with people on their boat and bring his truck to the shore just to watch the waves. He feels closer to him by the waves and the view.

“I looked at it as this was his place and I know he’s happy. This is where he got to spend his last moments. Knowing that, I’m gonna come out here, sit with my boy for a little longer, take it in, look at the view, see what he loves so much about it,” best friend of Swinney, Jordan Helmick.

Flores and Helmick have known Swinney for a while and consider themselves brothers. They said he was the life of the party, a hard worker and always made people laugh.

“If there was a party, if there was an event somewhere, he did not care, he was there. He had to pop out. We would get on him because he’d get paid on Friday and come back broke. He would go out and spend all of his money,” said Flores.

Helmick said Swinney always made people feel included, even when it came to tattoos. Swinney, Flores and Helmick have matching cross tattoos on the back of their right ear.

“I heard Eli sometimes be like ‘Jordan. What’s going on with that tattoo?’ One day, I was just like, ‘man, you’re right. I’m going to get that tattoo and match my boys’, because I said he was one of the boys I thought we was going to have forever,” Helmick said.

When both boys look out at the lake, it brings back so much joy and pain.

“I felt like Eli was one of them dudes I was going to be friends with for like another 30 years,” said Flores.

On Thursday, there will be a balloon release in Eli’s honor at Lake Tyler Marina at 6 p.m. with a hangout starting an hour earlier at 5 p.m.

A Go Fund Me page has been set up for The Swinney Family and funeral arrangements have been made for Eli Swinney at Cottle Funeral home in Overton.