CHESTERFIELD, Mo. — Cole Duffell loved adventure. He owned a motorcycle. He was a swimmer, a thrill seeker.
He was excited to celebrate his favorite holiday, July 4th, with his friends on his first trip to the Offsets.
It was also his last.
“His friends were trying their best. They couldn't find him. They couldn’t see,” his mom Melissa said.
Cole jumped into the water, came back up, and then disappeared. He's one of 9 people who've died at the Offests, one of two just this month.
"All I’ve worn is either Fourth of July,” Melissa said, pointing to her American flag shirt, “or his clothes, his pajamas. I sleep in his bed,” she said.
Melissa got the strength to talk to us Monday after news that Missouri’s attorney general is going after 'The Offsets'. She says her son would want her to demand change.
"He was such a kind-hearted person. He would not want the next person's family to suffer or for them to even be hurt,” Melissa said.
It's pain she says could have been prevented if the owners had made safety a priority.
"There aren't lifeguards or any kind of divers or diving equipment,” Melissa said.
She says Cole wouldn’t want the Offsets to close, but he’d want it to be safer for other thrill-seekers.
“I don't want them to be shut down, but I think they need to be mandated to help, to provide safety,” Melissa said. "It's not going to bring our boys back, but it hopefully will save the next person."
Melissa says after Cole’s death, they found two military recruitment cards in his wallet. He wanted to enlist.
