Married couple drown in river after their inflatable kayak capsizes

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A weekend excursion in Arizona turned into tragedy after a couple sharing an inflatable kayak ended up in the water and drowned, authorities said.

MCSO said that emergency responders first received a report on Oct. 31 at 1:34 p.m. of a man yelling that his wife could not swim while the two were floating down Salt River. 

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office identified the victims as 68-year-old Cindy Bowers and her husband, 59-year-old Anthony Beringer. 

Beringer shouted desperately to get help for his drowning wife after their inflatable kayak capsized.

Moments later, Bowers went underwater and Beringer also drowned shortly after in an apparent attempt to reach her.

Bowers’ body was recovered by MCSO FOX1 helicopter at approximately 2:11 p.m. Saturday and searchers located Beringer roughly 50 minutes later, around 3 p.m, authorities said.

Authorities said that despite having different last names, the two were married. Both lived in Chandler, Arizona.

Investigators confirmed that neither Bowers nor Beringer was wearing a life vest and the couple was sharing a single kayak.

News of the sudden loss reverberated quickly through the East Valley community, where loved ones and neighbors expressed grief over the tragedy.

Paul Gleason of Mesa identified Bowers as his cousin, confirming that she and Beringer shared a home in Chandler. 

“Cindy & Tony were our neighbors across the street,” wrote Chandler resident Kara Briscoe Liethen.

Following the incident, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office urged people to use caution and stay away from the Lower Salt River “as Salt River Project (SRP) releases higher-than-normal water levels.”

“Increased flows can create dangerous currents and rapidly changing conditions,” the sheriff’s office said in a social media post on Nov. 1.

Flash flooding across Arizona over the weekend was blamed on an atmospheric river that dropped above-average rain to the state.

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