A Thayer father will spend time in prison after admitting he was high on heroin while his two young sons drowned in the Kankakee River.

Eric Patillo, 36, was sentenced to 16 years in the Indiana Department of Corrections on Wednesday. Judge Samuel Cappas ordered him into a 9-month drug rehab program. If he completes it, the judge could revise his sentence, but he did not guarantee it would be changed.

Patillo signed a plea agreement April 19 dropping his charges to two counts of neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury, level 3 felonies. Both counts had an 8-year maximum.

The emotionally charged hearing Wednesday orbited around eight minutes of body cam footage prosecutors played that appeared to show both boys’ lifeless bodies. Patillo took his two sons, Levi, 4, and Evan, 2, to the river Aug. 21, 2018, after dropping their mother, Savannah Sanders, off at work.

Fisherman Dylan Sherwood testified he remembered that day “like the back of my hand”.

Patillo showed up around 2 p.m.

Aug. 21, 2018 with the boys at the river without fishing gear, he said. His friend directly asked him if he was “on something” after Patillo appeared to be nodding off and stuck his finger while trying to put bait on the pole they let him borrow.

They called 911 on Patillo when he admitted he was on ‘boy’, a.k.a. heroin, while his two kids were running around near the river. Sherwood and a friend were unloading gear to fish and stay overnight when realizing he hadn’t heard the boys for a few minutes, he testified.

As they went back, they saw a pair of “hands and knees” floating in the river. The other child was submerged, he said. His friend pulled out one child, while Sherwood started chest compressions, he said.

Then, Patillo yelled for his friend, still in the truck, who ran over, pulled the second child out, then took off running. The second man was not charged. The boys were unresponsive when pulled from the river.

At the time, Patillo said that he was “beyond sorry” and that his “life is (expletive) over,” an affidavit stated.

Relatives said then the younger boy may have gone into the water first, with his big brother following to protect him.

Patillo was on probation at the time of the boys’ deaths after he pleaded guilty in May 2018 to possession of a narcotic drug, a level 6 felony, in a Newton County court case. The warrant was recently withdrawn.

Newton County Sheriff’s Deputy Ryan Halloway said he first met Patillo after he was called to his house during a Oct. 21, 2017, heroin overdose. Sanders was also high on heroin, he said. Patillo was transported to the hospital.

Prosecutor Bernard Johnsen played footage from Halloway’s body cam showing both boys, who appeared lifeless at the riverbed, while he frantically picked up one child to attempt CPR.

Throughout the footage, Halloway yelled at Patillo telling him to get back multiple times at one point threatening to take him to jail.

“He didn’t know or care what was going on,” he testified. “He was asking for a cigarette.”

About eight minutes of the half-hour video was shown before defense lawyer Robert Varga objected. Sherwood sat quietly near the back weeping. At least two women left the courtroom, who did not appear to be relatives.

Patillo bowed his head down and closed his eyes. Halloway, emotional and whose hands were physically shaking at times, also looked down as it was played.

“We know what the result is,” Varga said, objecting. “If they have a point?”

Did anything else happen on the tape, Cappas asked.

“I just wanted the court to see what happened,” Johnsen said.

“I think we kinda get the gist,” Cappas said.

As Halloway exited from his testimony, Cappas called out to him motioning to Patillo.

“I’d like to thank you,” Patillo said.

Halloway turned around and left.

Sanders texted and left two voicemails for Varga that day, but did not appear for her testimony on Patillo’s behalf. She had attended multiple prior hearings and testified in favor of lowering his bond.

“Eric is a good father,” Varga said, offering what Sanders said previously. “The boys were the light of his life.”

Sanders herself was a recovering addict, but was not responsible for what happened, he said.

“She did not want to see him languish in prison over this,” Varga said.

Johnsen, responding, was sorry Sanders did not attend.

“I was hoping she would be here,” he said. “She gave the children to someone she knew was a heroin addict and junkie.”

They had a “better chance” surviving playing with a loaded pistol than at the river with their father, he said. “That’s how bad that situation was.”

A parent should protect their children, watch over them, he said.

“Look at what happened,” he said. “They died. The state of Indiana has to be their voice.”

“She is just as guilty as he is,” Johnsen said, with his voice rising. “What did you think was going to happen? They are dead. They are graveyard dead.”

He asked for Patillo to get the maximum 16-year sentence in the Department of Corrections.

What happened was a tragic accident, Varga said.

“In 21 years of being an attorney, this is easily the most emotional and heart wrenching case I’ve been a part of,” he said. “It’s anger. Anger at the thought that two boys lost their lives. That’s credible. Mr Patillo has not denied responsibility here.”

Vilifying Sanders was “a bridge too far,” Varga said.

Patillo has been in custody for nearly three years. The body cam footage is “replayed in his head every day,” he said.

The defendant tried heroin first at age 26, soon becoming addicted, Varga said. Struggling with addiction should not be a factor used against him in court, he argued.

“What is going to be the appropriate punishment for a man who’s lost his children and had to see them die in front of him, to see it for the rest of his life?” Varga said.

“Punishing him helps no one,” he said. “There’s nothing good about this case.”

Patillo had seven contacts with law enforcement previously. His drug arrests were not violent and what happened at the river was unlikely to happen again, his lawyer said.

“He doesn’t have any more kids he can’t take care of,” Johnsen retorted later in court. “They’re lost.”

Varga asked for three years. Patillo needed drug rehabilitation, his lawyer said. He spent three years in jail with minimal mental health counseling, which was nearly impossible especially after COVID-19 restrictions.

Patillo wanted to get out and work with other addicts, share his story.

“That’s admirable,” Varga said.

“I go every day. It just doesn’t go away,” Patillo said, who cried through his statement.

There’s a lot of people that have to deal with what happened — Halloway, Sherwood, his family, Sanders, he said. Patillo hoped his story would help someone else.

“I would like to say I’m sorry,” Patillo said.

The case was “one of the worst things I’ve seen,” Cappas said, agreeing with Varga.

The judge had to balance Patillo’s addiction with the tragedy of his two sons’ deaths.

“I could give him 100 years, that’s not going to be as bad as the anguish for his actions that day,” Cappas said.

Patillo was not trustworthy due to his heroin addiction, the judge said.

If he got out, with minimal drug counseling and mental health treatment, he would be “extremely tempted” to relapse and probably overdose, he said.

In the end, Patillo received 8 years on each count to run consecutively with a mandatory drug program stint that could lead to a revised sentence. Varga said he planned to appeal.

“I don’t trust you to get out and be ok,” Cappas said.

The boys mostly lived with their grandparents due to drug use in the parents’ home, according to the Indiana Department of Child Services’ 2018 Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities report.

They had not been removed prior to their deaths. Patillo picked the boys up from the grandparents’ home before he took them to the river, it said.