The youngest of five boys, Eric Hyer was quiet and generous with his friends and family. His brothers said he would often loan them money, then refuse to be repaid.

Hyer, who loved 1980s music, had just moved to Rhode Island from Texas last year and was living with his brother Mark in Coventry until about a month ago, when he relocated to Scituate, The Boston Globe reported.

"He was my fishing buddy," said his brother Mark. The two had gone freshwater fishing almost every day in season, something they had done with their father as children.

Eric Hyer, 32, had been going to The Station every Thursday because he had Fridays off from his job as a binder at Auto Trader Magazines in Cranston.

"Eric was a very simple kind of guy," said his brother Andrew. "He lived day by day. Whatever happened, happened."