Crews Find Bodies Of 2 Teens Who Went Rafting

WALNUT CREEK (AP) — The bodies of two teenage boys reported missing after rafting near Walnut Creek were found Sunday, authorities said.

The body of Matthew Miller, 16, was found around 11:30 a.m. near Concord, while 17-year-old Gavin Powell's body was found hours later a few miles away, said Jimmy Lee, spokesman for the Contra Costa County sheriff's office.

The boys' families reported them missing after midnight when they did not return from the trip on a two-person inflatable raft Saturday afternoon. The raft was discovered earlier Sunday in a rain-swollen waterway.

The boys left on the trip during a storm that dumped heavy rain and brought strong winds to the region.

"With the recent rains, it makes the creek actually swell, it becomes very fast-moving," said sheriff's Lt. Eric Navarro. "But what's even more dangerous was the debris in the water: branches, rocks and any kind of other debris you can think of," he said.

The boys had called a friend to meet them once they had completed the trip, but the friend assumed that someone else had picked up the boys when they never arrived, according to Lee.

"It was sad how it ended," Lee said. "This was not a place for rafting or water sports."

Autopsies were planned for this week.

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)