Community mourns man who died at Paintsville Lake

PAINTSVILLE, Ky. (WSAZ) - A family is mourning the loss of a young man who died Sunday after a day of fun at Paintsville Lake.

Brianna Webb, the sister of 23-year-old Kyle Webb, called his death heartbreaking.

“He was the sweetest guy,” she said. “He’d give anyone the shirt off his back. We were like best friends.”

Brianna says her brother and two of his friends were hanging out at the lake and jumping off a cliff into the water.

She was told as they were about to leave, one of the friends turned around, and Kyle was gone, and Kyle’s hat and boot could be seen floating at the bottom of the cliff.

Brianna says they think he might have fallen.

Emergency crews were called to the lake and found his body.

“It’s something nobody wants to go through,” Brianna said.

Cliff jumping at the lake is illegal. Brianna says she wishes her brother wouldn’t have been able to get to the cliff area to begin with, and she hopes it’s blocked off in the future to prevent something like this from happening again.

Melissa Arnett, who is camping at the lake this week, says it was devastating as word spread that a young man had lost his life.

“The news came, and especially the mothers sitting around were devastated,” Melissa Arnett said. “We said some prayers.”

The Johnson County Coroner says Webb’s autopsy is expected to be performed Tuesday morning.

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