Woman says her husband disappeared while trying to save her

it was supposed to be a weekend getaway. a family’s trip to elephant butte over the memorial weekend turned into heartbreak and despair. as we reported monday new mexico state police were investigating a possible drowning. at this point no body has been recovered and tonight a family is looking for closure. abc-7’s jerry najera spoke with the wife of the man who disappeared in the lake.. it’s a story you’ll see only on abc-7…. rick estela i walked into the home of geri villanueva today. you quickly get a sense of the helplessness her and her family feel. villanueva tells me her husband dan disappeared in the lake trying to save her. and all they are looking for now is closure. “i’ve been studying for a reall big exam and he thought it would be a great idea for so he thought it would be a good idea to go out and have some fun with our daughter” geri villanueva tells me her husband 37- year-old dan villanueva just wanted some time to relax with the family. the couple have been married 9 years and have a 4 year-old-daughter. family was also in from out of town to join the celebrations “he rented a pantoon boat for us and we went to one of the beaches” villanueva tells me they enjoyed some tubing and boogie boarding. she also went for a dip in the lake. “i jumped in the water and he gave me my boogie board and i was noticing that the wave was pushing me farther in farther away from the boat” villanuev tells me she started to struggle getting back to the boat. “no matte how hard i tried i was pushed away so i yelled for help” she say dan was quick to respond and tried to put on a life jacket –but it was too small- possibly made for a child. she tells me her husband an avid swimmer jumped in anyway — without the life jacket — and swam towards her. “we would hang o to the boogie board we would tread our feet we tried to swim we couldn’t move it’s like something was pulling us and we were sinking” villanueva says at that moment she knew they were in serious danger. “th last thing i saw was him looking really afraid and a boat coming but that was the last thing i could remember” geri was pulled out of the water by passers-by. she says when she came to and asked for her husband- she was told no one else was in the water at the time. divers soon began the search for the body but after 72 hours they stopped the search underwater. “if there’s any that could help us can find in their heart to keep searching for him it would help us find closure. not having him here not knowing where he is not knowing what happened to him really hurts” i also spoke with dan villanuevas mom and dad who are in from michigan. they tell me they can’t even find it in themselves to go back home at this point. they say they need clsoure. park rangers say they sweep the area above water 3 times a day in hopes of finding a body. a las cruces jury today got a better idea of what two deputies may