Investigators said a strong current overpowered a Snellville mother who drowned off the Florida coast.
   
She was vacationing with her family on Longboat Key in Sarasota, Fla., last week.

“It's terrible. I can't describe it to you," Jose Chavez said, discussing the moment he found his sister-in-law face-down in the water.

He said he was in checking on his children in a pool when his niece came running up the shore. He told Channel 2’s Kerry Kavanaugh the niece shouted, “Uncle, my mother is drowning.”

Jacqueline Landaverde, 37, of Snellville, was vacationing with her husband and three children, along with Chavez and his family.

They were just two days into their beach vacation. Chavez said a powerful current was too much for Landaverde to overcome.

"I run faster, and I go inside the ocean, and we pulled her out," he said.
 
Chavez said strangers ran to help as well. They tried CPR on the beach until paramedics arrived, but Landaverde died on the way to the hospital.

Chavez said the entire family is finding strength through each other and their faith.

They believe the older sister, wife and mother of three is now an angel watching over them.

"People have to pray for the family because it's all we need," Chavez said.

The family held a funeral service at their Norcross church Monday. They plan to return her body to Guatemala to be buried.