Family shares the moments before an Omaha man’s body was found in Sarpy County lake

His mother said she never planned to lose her child so they created a GoFundMe to help with funeral expenses.

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‘Longest day of my life’: Family shares the moments before an Omaha man’s body was found in Sarpy County lake

SARPY COUNTY, Neb. —

A weekend that was supposed to be full of Independence Day celebrations turned into days of mourning for Wyatt Bernal’s family.

Officials said the 19-year-old died after the canoe he was in capsized last Thursday on Wehrspann Lake.

“It was probably like the longest day of my life,” Bernal’s mother Michala Stepanek said.

Officials said Bernal and another young man were in the canoe. The 17-year-old swam to the shore, but Bernal did not.

“My brain is like maybe still out there. I’m like, no, because they found his body, and I’m like, maybe they got the wrong one,” Stepanek said. “I’m like in a lot of denial still about all this.”

Stepanek said he bought the canoe that day he was lost in the water.

“I said, ‘You need to be safe,’ and he goes, ‘I’m always safe,’” his mother said.

She said once their family and Bernal’s girlfriend, Nina Leake, learned the news they rushed over and searched the woods nearby.

“Because how could somebody else get out of there and not him? He’s such a great swimmer,” his girlfriend Leake said.

Officials eventually recovered his body around 10:30 a.m. on the Fourth of July.

“We’ve been talking about how he claimed the holiday and how we’re going to name it after him, and celebrate in his honor,” Leake said.

Stepanek and Leake describe Bernal as a fun, loud and caring person.

“He loved everybody. He wanted everybody to have a friend,” Stepanek said. “He wanted everybody to know how much he cared about them.”

Stepanek said love shines through in his absence.

“If this has showed me anything, it’s that he has touched the lives of so many people,” his mother said. “I have so many kids messaging me about him.”

They said his passion in life was music, and now that he’s gone, the silence is too loud.

“All I’ve been doing is just listening to his music constantly, nonstop. And it’s nice having that because it’s nice hearing him,” Stepanek said. “The world is going to be a much dimmer place without him. He was such a bright light in everybody’s life.”

His mother said she never planned to lose her child so they created a GoFundMe to help with funeral expenses.

Fundraiser link: Honoring the life of Wyatt Bernal

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