A 22-year-old Iowa man drowned on his Florida honeymoon Tuesday when he went swimming in the ocean for the first time, according to reports.
Dalton Cottrell and his newlywed wife Cheyenne, both 22, were in the water at a beach near St. Augustine when the couple got swept 100 yards out to sea by a strong rip current, according to CNN.
“Cheyenne advised he began to struggle and she attempted to assist him but was unable to help due to him pulling her under,” police said in a statement obtained by KCRG.
“She advised at one point after him being under the water for approximately for a minute he came back up, and his eyes were rolled in the back of his head.”
A nearby beachgoer joined the lifeguard in a rescue effort and used a paddleboard to guide Cottrell back to shore, CNN reported.
The lifeguard tried to revive Cottrell, who went into cardiac arrest before dying at a nearby hospital.
Cheyenne later told authorities that it was her husband’s first time in the ocean.
The widow shared her grief in a Wednesday Facebook post, writing, “3 days of wedded bliss turned into a nightmare very quickly for the Cottrell family as well as mine own.”
“Never did I think at 22 would I be a wife and then a widow so quickly.”