There's emotions of relief fighting emotions of pain.
"I'm glad they found him, really," Terry Riebe said. "It was tough, very tough. Nobody should have to go through this."
Riebe's son, Ryan, fell through ice on the East River in late December. Yesterday, police recovered his body and identified it as Ryan.
"The harsh reality of it coming in," Terry Rebie said. "Yes, I know where he is now. He's out of the water. Man, that's a long time to be in the water."
For the past few months, Terry has been facing uncertainty. He said in the back of his mind that he knew his son fell through the ice, but he didn't want to believe it and held out hope his son was safe.
"We always thought, until he's pulled out of there, we don't know," Rebie said.
Rebie said he walked the East River every weekend, looking for some signs, some sense of closure. Now, it's finally here, but the grieving will start again.
"We had a lot of good memories," Rebie said.
He said his son was a good athlete who was fighting through difficult times. It's the good times Rebie will miss most.
"Just him calling me, saying dad are we going to do this? Are we going to go out to eat, pick me up? He's not there no more," he said.
It's a tragic loss, finally confirmed.
A GoFundMe page has been set up for the family
