Julian Ryan’s final words to his mother, as floodwaters quickly engulfed their trailer home, were simply, “I love you.”

“He died a hero and that will never go unnoticed,” Connie Salas said. Through tears and shock, the family of 27-year-old Ryan said the father, brother and fiancé died a hero. In the early Friday morning hours, floodwater suddenly swelled into the home he shared with Wilson and his mother in Ingram, close to the Guadalupe River.

Julian Ryan bravely gave his life to save his family during the devastating flooding along the Guadalupe River in Kerrville on July 4, 2025