COLUMBUS, Ind.—UPDATE (Saturday 10:45 a.m.)
Members of the Bartholomew County Water Rescue Team located the body of Brendan Sperry from the East Fork of the White River early Saturday, around 7:45 a.m. Crews say the six-year-old boy’s body was found a half-mile south of State Road 46 (the Robert N. Stewart Bridge).
Friday 9:45 p.m.
Corporal Jet Quillen with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources says multiple DNR divers continued to search the Driftwood and Flatrock Rivers on Friday for missing Brendan Sperry, 6, of Columbus, who disappeared into the water around 3:00 p.m., on Thursday. The boy is yet to be found. DNR says the operation was suspended again last night at dusk and a search of the surface area is resuming on Saturday morning.
Officials continue to urge the public to stay away from Mill Race Park as the bike trail and People Trail have been temporarily closed to aid rescue workers. Many bicyclists, joggers, and onlookers were turned away by law enforcement yesterday.
ORIGINAL—A family is holding out hope that their son is still alive after a swimming mishap Thursday afternoon in Columbus’s Mill Race Park. Indiana Conservation Officer Jet Quillen says that shortly after 3 p.m., a six-year-old was playing on a sandbar in the Driftwood River when he ventured out too far and was swept away by the current. He was last seen wearing Spider-Man swimming trunks.
Control of the scene was handed over to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Multiple police and firefighting agencies were on the scene searching for the youngster by air and water.
