LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Tyler Elliot's friends say their heart aches every time they think of him.
"I feel so lucky to have been friends with him and have known him for as long as I did. It's never going to be the same. And I already miss him," Rachel Olsen said.
Olsen said Elliott was like a brother to her. The two met when they were kids at Our Lady of Lourdes School.
"He always has a smile on his face and he also could make anybody laugh. And he never met a stranger. There was a reason why he's everyone favorite person," she said. "I couldn't process it and I'm still having a hard time processing it. I just saw him a couple weeks ago."
Missouri State Highway Patrol reported that Elliott died at Lake of the Ozarks Saturday.
The report shows that 29-year-old Tyler Elliott jumped into the water from a pontoon boat around 4:15 p.m. near the four-mile mark of the Grand Glaize Arm in Anderson Hollow Cove.
He was “reportedly impaired” when he got out of the boat and “had diminished swimming capabilities” according to the report.
Missouri State Troopers also mentioned he was not wearing a life vest.
A dive team found Elliott, and the Camden County Medical Examiner pronounced him dead at 9:25 a.m. Sunday according to the report.
"Definitely something that was unexpected. I just seen him the day that he was leaving and that's the last thing we thought would've happened," his friend Kayla McMahon said.
Kayla and her wife, Scarlett McMahon, said Elliott will truly be missed. The couple said they will honor him by living life the way he did.
"He lived every day to the fullest," Scarlett said. "He was always laughing and just had a good soul. We will remember him that way, and try to live fully the way he would have wanted us."
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