Search efforts suspended on Lake Houston for missing jet skier

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The family of a missing man spent all night standing on the shores of Lake Houston in northeast Harris County, even after search teams called it a night.

They are back out today, but the search is suspended for the time. Authorities are looking for Raydall Cash, the 27-year-old jet skier who fell into the water near Alexander Deussen Park.

We've learned two men were riding a jet ski on Lake Houston yesterday evening around 7pm when, at some point, both of the men fell off the jet ski. One of them was wearing a life jacket and the other was not. Raydall, the man without the life jacket, went missing.

Cash's common law wife, Keiaira Duchsin, said, "The police need to do their job when it's an emergency situation. And even if it's not your loved one, you should care. And help more. Do your job."

Harris County Sheriff's Thomas Deputy Gilliland said divers are in the water, but the situation is challenging now. "The conditions on the lake are treacherous at most right now," he said. "The winds have really picked up. The lake has become very choppy, which the conditions become underwater even murkier for divers to see."

The search will continue until Cash is found or conditions worsen. If conditions continue to deteriorate, Gilliland said divers and boats will be pulled from the water, but will continue when the weather improves.

Gilliland said, "We're doing as much as we can. It's a very lengthy process. You know it went from rescue to recovery, which is tragic for any family. Certainly the rescue mode is much more easier once you're on top of the water, but when it was determined that he did not swim out, and that he did not surface again, then it went to a recovery mode, unfortunately."