She made it her mission to help others: that's how co-workers describe a Fishers woman who was pulled from the water and died Tuesday night after swimming in Broad Ripple.

24-year-old Jessica Adkins was a graduate of Hamilton Southeastern High School and Indiana University. She was an only child. 24-Hour News 8 spoke with a family friend and her co-workers Wednesday, who were devastated by her death.

Inside a small office downtown, a dozen people gathered Wednesday to remember Adkins. Friends remember Adkins as passionate about volunteering, social worker and helping the less fortunate. She was a member of Public Allies, a non-profit organization in downtown Indianapolis.

"She would look at someone who had nothing, and equate them to somebody that had everything. There was no difference in people to her. She felt it was her calling ... to work with disadvantaged people," said Alan Lacey, a family friend who has known Jessica since she was born.

Adkins spent her college years volunteering with various agencies in Bloomington, and friends say she had been looking at grad schools. They knew she wanted to stay on the social work path.

"I just wish this didn't happen, because I knew what type of person she was, and I had a sense of what type of person she would grow to be. I just knew she would be even more awesome 10 years from now," said Troy Tate, also a volunteer with Public Allies.

Police say Jessica was swimming with a friend in the White River Tuesday night when she started struggling. Her friend, James Petersen, told police he tried to save her, but couldn't and swam to shore.

According to police reports, when Adkins was brought up from the river by divers, 25-year-old Petersen became violent. He yelled profanities and kicked at police. Police reported smelling alcohol on him and suspected he'd been using drugs. Petersen was in the Marion County Jail as of Wednesday evening, facing battery and resisting law enforcement charges.