NEW ORLEANS — It's now been more than 48 hours since three kids went missing in the Mississippi River near the Crescent City Connection in Algiers. They still haven’t been found. Monday evening, friends and family came together for a balloon release near the levee where they were last seen.
"Heal their broken hearts," a pastor said during the balloon release, praying for comfort and healing. "We believe right now, we believe these babies right now are wrapped in your arms."
Eight-year-old Ally Wilson, 14-year-old Brandy Wilson, and Brandy's 15-year-old male friend who hasn't been publicly identified by his family have been missing in the Mississippi River since Saturday evening. Brandy allegedly fell in and the others jumped in after her to try and help.
"We know there was love when one went into the water and appeared to be lost, another went in to save that one, and when that one seemed to be lost, the last one went in," the pastor said during the balloon release.
As the balloons were sent up into the sky, the tears of the missing girls' father poured down. "My babies!" he cried. Ally and Brandy were Allen Berry's daughters. He said they kept their daughters close and didn't let them go out alone often.
"We never let them go, we never let them go," he said.
He remembers their bright spirits that were full of life.
"Ally danced to everything, Brandy sang to everything," Berry said.
Brandy was a student at LB Landry High.
"They were just were joy. Brandy, you had to stop her from smiling. You had to stop her," Berry said.
He recalls Ally loving to dance on Tik Tok.
"They were full of life. It was always joy with me and my kids," Berry said.
The Coast Guard called off its search Sunday evening but divers with other agencies are still searching hoping to give this family any bit of closure.
"My babies. They were good kids," Berry said.
The families have little hope the kids will be found alive, but they want to find their bodies so they can properly say their goodbyes. Several crews, including NOPD, will continue their search Tuesday morning at 9:30.
The girls' family set up a Go Fund Me account to help the five remaining siblings and arrangements.