KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. – A grieving family plans to meet for a memorial to remember their late 19-year-old hero, Victor Enrique Castañeda Jr., on Saturday in South Beach.
Victor Castañeda, who served in the U.S. Army, vanished a week ago while swimming off the beach at South Pointe Park, at 1 Washington Ave. The Somerset Academy Charter High graduate died while helping to save one of his three sisters from the grasp of a rip current, relatives said. A Good Samaritan helped to get the teenage girl to safety, police said.
The Castañeda family recently learned detectives reported that his head had washed ashore on another beach. Police officers used plastic to cover his remains Tuesday morning behind the Key Colony II Ocean Sound condominium, at 251 Crandon Boulevard, in the Village of Key Biscayne.
The Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed the identity. Fire rescue personnel and police officers with the Miami Beach, Miami-Dade County, and Key Biscayne departments and the U.S. Coast Guard had a part in the case that impacted the Castañeda family both in Cuba, South Florida, and other parts of the U.S.
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