Hyer liked to stay in close contact with family. Andrew Hyer said he would get calls from his brother at least four times a week.

Born in Middleborough, Eric Hyer had just moved to Rhode Island from Texas last year and was living with his brother Mark in Coventry until a month ago, when he relocated to Scituate, R.I.

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

Mark Hyer said his brother 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. Hyer loved '80s music.

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

The oldest of the five brothers, Doug Hyer, visited the site of the tragedy and left two handmade wooden dice, made by a friend for his younger brother because he had liked to play a game called "bones."

Eric Hyer liked to win, Doug Hyer said, but there was another reason he played.

"He got time with us -- that's what he wanted," he said.

LISA KOCIAN