Friends and family who gathered in prayer and memory await answers about Michael Jaramillo’s death.
CEDAR RAPIDS — Into the clear, blue Tuesday afternoon sky floated three dozen orange and white balloons. They were released by friends and family to honor the birthday of Michael Jaramillo of Marion. It was a birthday at which the guest of honor was absent. He drowned July 3 on the Raging River raft ride at Adventureland Park in Altoona when a raft in which he and his family were riding overturned, trapping him underneath. “Today he would have been 12 years old,” father David Jaramillo told the crowd gathered in front of the Christian Life Church in Cedar Rapids. “We’re very appreciative of the family we have here, that we found in Iowa.” More: Michael Jaramillo funeral: Boy killed on Adventureland ride remembered for joy he brought others That family — made up of friends and members of the two churches the Jaramillos attend — spoke of Michael and joined in prayer. Over 90 days after the accident much remains unknown about the events that led to Michael’s death and left his older brother, who also was trapped beneath the overturned raft, hospitalized for a month.
