{"id":330234,"date":"2026-07-05T22:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T22:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/330234\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T22:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T22:38:08","slug":"aunt-says-teen-loved-the-water-after-drowning-in-daytona-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/330234\/","title":{"rendered":"Aunt says teen &#8216;loved the water&#8217; after drowning in Daytona Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tA Central Florida family is mourning the loss of a 17-year-old Orlando teen who died after being caught in a rip current off Daytona Beach.Volusia County Beach Safety said Amareon Anthony, 17, and a friend were caught in a rip current Friday evening. Lifeguards rescued the girl, but crews spent hours searching for Anthony.&#8221;We had 25 lifeguards in the water. We had two jet skis. We had our rescue vessel running side-scan sonar,&#8221; said AJ Miller, deputy chief of Volusia County Beach Safety.The search ended Saturday morning after a bystander spotted someone floating in the water and called 911.&#8221;We received a 911 call for a cardiac arrest by a bystander that had seen the individual out in the water floating, went out, retrieved them, 911 call was made, and we showed up on scene,&#8221; Miller said.Anthony&#8217;s aunt, LaQuice Anthony, said her nephew was a bright, kind teenager who loved spending time at the beach.&#8221;He was a very smart child. He was bright. He was his own person,&#8221; she said.She said learning her nephew had been found was devastating.&#8221;I just lost it because that literally was my biggest fear,&#8221; Anthony said. &#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t wish this pain on anyone&#8217;s family.&#8221;She said the tragedy is especially difficult because the ocean was one of his favorite places.&#8221;That was his safe place. He liked the water,&#8221; she said. &#8220;You can never expect something like that happen so close to home. We go to the beach all the time. We get in the water all the time.&#8221;As the family prepares to say goodbye, Anthony said they are also struggling with how to explain the loss to Amareon&#8217;s 9-year-old sister.&#8221;His little sister \u2014 that was her person. That was her Superman. That was her hero,&#8221; she said.Now, Anthony hopes her family&#8217;s tragedy serves as a reminder for others visiting Florida&#8217;s beaches.&#8221;Just be careful around the water,&#8221; she said.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>A Central Florida family is mourning the loss of a 17-year-old Orlando teen who died after being caught in a rip current off Daytona Beach.<\/p>\n<p>Volusia County Beach Safety said Amareon Anthony, 17, and a friend were caught in a rip current Friday evening. Lifeguards rescued the girl, but crews spent hours searching for Anthony.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We had 25 lifeguards in the water. We had two jet skis. We had our rescue vessel running side-scan sonar,&#8221; said AJ Miller, deputy chief of Volusia County Beach Safety.<\/p>\n<p>The search ended Saturday morning after a bystander spotted someone floating in the water and called 911.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We received a 911 call for a cardiac arrest by a bystander that had seen the individual out in the water floating, went out, retrieved them, 911 call was made, and we showed up on scene,&#8221; Miller said.<\/p>\n<p>Anthony&#8217;s aunt, LaQuice Anthony, said her nephew was a bright, kind teenager who loved spending time at the beach.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He was a very smart child. He was bright. He was his own person,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>She said learning her nephew had been found was devastating.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I just lost it because that literally was my biggest fear,&#8221; Anthony said. &#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t wish this pain on anyone&#8217;s family.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>She said the tragedy is especially difficult because the ocean was one of his favorite places.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That was his safe place. He liked the water,&#8221; she said. &#8220;You can never expect something like that happen so close to home. We go to the beach all the time. We get in the water all the time.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As the family prepares to say goodbye, Anthony said they are also struggling with how to explain the loss to Amareon&#8217;s 9-year-old sister.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;His little sister \u2014 that was her person. That was her Superman. That was her hero,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>Now, Anthony hopes her family&#8217;s tragedy serves as a reminder for others visiting Florida&#8217;s beaches.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Just be careful around the water,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Central Florida family is mourning the loss of a 17-year-old Orlando teen who died after being caught&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":330235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[88067,136422,44527,18294,2678,2389,3160,1089,58914,18742,139,141,140,23879,136420,32376,136421,4103],"class_list":["post-330234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-aj-miller","tag-amareon-anthony","tag-anthony","tag-aunt","tag-bystander","tag-call","tag-daytona-beach","tag-family","tag-lifeguard","tag-loss","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-rip-current","tag-spending-time","tag-tragedy","tag-volusia-county-beach-safety","tag-water"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}