Brothers found dead in Garner house honored by swim team as homicide, arson investigation proceed

WAKE COUNTY, N.C. (WTVD) -- A swim team is coming together to remember River and Jet Collins, two teenage brothers found dead inside a house in Garner.

This comes as new search warrants shed more light on what's now being considered an arson and homicide investigation in Garner.

River Collins was a lifeguard at the Edgebrook Eels Swim Club in Garner. Their Thursday swim meet was in his honor.

"To know him was to know someone who was gentle, caring, and loving."

As swimmers remember River, they're also trying to make sense of the tragedy, Learning that 15-year-old River and his 13-year-old brother Jet were found dead inside the house. Fire investigators now believe it was intentionally set.

"When I learned River might be dead, and it hit me like a ton of bricks," says teammate Finn Walls.

For now, as they swim through the pain and grief, remember the good times.

"River was a really go with the flow guy, he didn't really let anything bother him. He always made me laugh when I worked with him," says fellow lifeguard Rylee Young.

In addition to swimming, River had a creative side. A student at Longleaf School of the Arts, playing in a band, he also had a serious side with friends saying he was destined for big things.

"It's just different, it's something that we're going to have to get used to without him and his support and what he brings," says Walls.

Now they say it's their turn to support him; at the pool. There were donations set up for the local bank to support River and Jet's mom, who now has to move forward, burying two sons.

Records from the Wake County Sheriff's Office show the victims' mother was listed as a domestic violence victim in a report just days before the fire.