INDEPENDENCE, Ore. -- In Independence, a town of no more than ten thousand people, the sudden deaths of Michael Runyon and Alvin Troub have jolted a quiet community. 

At the very spot where authorities found the pair’s abandoned fishing rods, a small but generous memorial honors the two brothers. 

Police said Alvin Troub's body was found around 1 p.m. Tuesday, submerged in the high water near a dock. His little brother's body was found about an hour later in the water nearby.

The brothers, 20-year-old Alvin and eight-year-old Michael Runyon were last seen Sunday fishing on the Willamette River banks in Independence.

Polk County authorities had changed the search effort from rescue to recovery on Tuesday, after clues kept pointing them to the likely drownings.

On Monday, water scent dogs marked two places in the river. A dive team from the Linn County Sheriff's Office dove in one of these areas but found nothing. They said visibility in the river was less than a foot, making searching very difficult.

Then, Tuesday morning, three new water scent dogs were brought to the riverside and they also marked a location near the area where the different set of dogs had alerted their trainers the day before.

 Slideshow: Photos of brothers

“Our students are saddened by him not being with us anymore,” said Steve Tillery, Principal at Independence Elementary School.

Runyon was a third grader at IES.  Tillery remembers him as a boy who had a smile that was contagious.  And his kindness was unconditional. 

“All the students had fond memories of him, what a great friend he was, and how he would come up and ask me to play with him.  He went out of his way to make people feel good,” said Tillery.

And while investigators may never know what happened to Michael or Alvin, family members think they know.  They believe Michael fell in the water and Alvin jumped in to save him. 

Mary Troub, the boys’ mother, said Michael cannot swim and feared that was “very, very scared.” She also said that Michael was diagnosed with autism.

“They're extremely close," Mary Troub told KGW on Monday. Alvin's like a role model to Michael. He loves him to death.”

And according to relatives, it is not unlike Alvin to do something so heroic.  He recently started training for the army.  He was baptized within the past couple of weeks. 

One man drove to Independence from Salem just to pay his respects to Alvin and Michael. 

“It’s just really touching.  We come down here all the time and it touched our hearts to hear about those poor kids who drowned out there,” added Jeff Elizalde of Salem.

KGW Reporters Mike Benner and Erica Heartquist contributed to this report.