“They are absolutely heroes”: How several Stone County locals saved a Joplin man from drowning

STONE COUNTY, Mo. — Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader is giving credit to several locals in the Stone County area for helping save a man’s life this past weekend.

“I got a firsthand account from some people that were right there when it happened. Some local people from Reeds Spring and Galena, and the story was amazing of how some of our local people jumped in and saved a guy,” Sheriff Rader said. “The local guys that jumped in and helped, they saved his life. We wouldn’t have got to him in time.”

Dakota Bilyeu and Justin DeAtley were two of the people in that group.

“We were floating and we were just hanging out on the bank. I seen the man come in on his kayak, and he hit the tree, and I seen the boat flipped, and the boat kind of went under [the tree]. The boat came out, but I didn’t see him come out,” said Bilyeu. “A lady on the bank, she started screaming and yelling and saying the man didn’t come out. So when she said that, I just threw my stuff down, ran in the water, started Like swimming across the river, but the current was pretty strong there.”

“I hears a commotion up behind me, a bunch of girls hollering the guy trapped under a tree, the guy trapped in a tree. A few of my buddies like Dakota and Larry and all them who were headed up the river were still on banks,” DeAtley said. “I was able to run down the bank, so I got to the tree.”

The man in the water is 72-year-old Thomas Forehand from Joplin.

“We couldn’t find him at first, and he was stuck under the limb and with the current, you couldn’t see through the water,” Bilyeu said.

“I can see nothing. You know, the current is going pretty good. My stomach’s against that log and every now and his hands float up and I happen to see his hand come up and I was able to grab it and put him up out of the water and get him held up on the log with me,” DeAtley says.

“The guy, he wasn’t breathing at first. He’s really purple lips. Really purple. I hit his chest and like this rubbing his chest really hard, as good as I could in the water, and he started spitting up water, started breathing,” Bilyeu said. “Five or six other people with us, we all grab him carried into the bank.”

“I think that if it would have been very much longer, he wouldn’t have made it. He was probably underwater for at least 2 to 3 minutes,” Bilyeu said.

“He was on his last verge, barely made it. It’s as if 15, 30 seconds more…he was pretty bad shape,” DeAtley added.

By that time, two Stone County deputies were able to load Forehand into their boat and head toward the ambulance waiting for them.

“Our two guys were quick to jump in the boat, get it up there and they ended up there after they got the man breathing, lowered him in our boat and took him to an ambulance about a little over a quarter of a mile up the river to meet the ambulance,” Rader said. “I think these local guys that jumped in and I know them and they’re great guys and I think they’re our heroes. They are absolutely heroes. They jumped in and saved somebody’s life, and they should be very, very proud of that.”

But don’t call Bilyeu and DeAtley heroes.

“Everybody keeps saying that I’m a hero, but I just feel like I did the right thing. I just did what I hope somebody did for me,” Bilyeu said. “I don’t consider myself a hero at all. I just did the right thing.”

“We’re kind of like a family out here. You see someone in trouble, you get out there and help,” DeAtley said. “You take care of everybody, you know? You see someone hurting you up there and help them.”

Sheriff Rader along with DeAtley says one of the helpers was a nurse named Angel.

“They did CPR, got the man breathing again, and a 72-year-old man has since left the hospital and is doing great,” Rader said.

OzarksFirst has reached out to relatives of Forehand but has not heard back with any comments for this story. If a comment is made, OzarksFirst will update this story.

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