Searchers find body of 4-year-old in river

Grim discovery ends 4-day effort

Searchers pause in prayer and a moment of silence Wednesday morning after the body of 4-year-old Caleb Linn of Springdale was found in the South Fork River.
Searchers pause in prayer and a moment of silence Wednesday morning after the body of 4-year-old Caleb Linn of Springdale was found in the South Fork River.

— A search team using canoes found the body of a 4-year-old boy in the South Fork River on Wednesday morning after an extensive search that began Saturday, when authorities now believe the child fell into the rapid waters.

photo

Arkansas State Police

Caleb Linn is seen in this undated photo provided by the Arkansas State Police. Rescue crews are searching for the 3-year-old boy who went missing Saturday, March 24, 2012 from a Boy Scout camp in northeastern Arkansas. (AP Photo/Arkansas State Police)

Caleb Linn’s body was found about a half-mile downstream from where authorities believe he went into the water and about 400 yards downstream from where divers Tuesday afternoon found his shirts snagged on brush.

Hundreds of law enforcement officers and volunteers had scoured the wooded hills of eastern Fulton County since Caleb disappeared. He would have turned 5 next Tuesday.

Searchers hunted on foot and by all-terrain vehicles and boats. The Baxter County sheriff’s office also contributed its helicopter to hover over the banks of the South Fork River in hopes of spotting the boy, who, his stepfather said, was always smiling.

An emotional Fulton County Sheriff Buck Foley said finding Caleb’s body was “a tough thing to deal with.”

“We were hoping for some better news,” he said.

Caleb was last seen crossing a low-water bridge of the South Fork River near Cherokee Village at about 11:30 a.m. Saturday, his aunt, Rhonda Wright, told authorities.

Wright and about 11 youngsters had been cleaning debris off the bridge. Caleb tried to catch up with youths who had left the bridge to head back to the cabins where they were staying, Foley said.

Caleb’s mother, Amanda Muir, and his stepfather, Randy Muir, weren’t on the camping trip. They traveled from their Springdale home to the South Fork River site after the child’s disappearance and remained while the search continued.

Crews searching for the body of a missing 4-year-old recovered his body in the water Wednesday morning.

Body of 4-year-old found in river

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Randy Muir said his heart was broken when he heard Caleb’s body had been found.

“It just felt like the rest of it fell down our stomachs,” he said, his arm encircling his wife’s waist as she wept.

Foley said Caleb either tripped on the low-water bridge near the Kia Kima Boy Scout camp just northwest of Cherokee Village or became scared when he couldn’t catch up with the others and returned to the river, then fell in, Foley said.

The sheriff said the South Fork River, a tributary of the Spring River, was swift and roaring from rains earlier last week and it’s likely that no one would have heard Caleb if he cried for help.

Foley had called off a ground search Tuesday evening after divers found Caleb’s green and orange shirts in brush in the river. He said then that searchers would focus strictly on the river.

About 10 a.m. Wednesday, a searcher in a team of eight canoeists spotted the boy’s body in a 2-foot deep pool along the river.

Foley said he suspected that Caleb’s body became entangled in underwater brush shortly after he fell in. When the river began receding, his body was dislodged, the sheriff said.

Mike Stanley, pastor of Friendship Baptist Church in Highland, said he tried to offer a calm presence to family members and others during the search.

“They seemed to really need that,” Stanley said “I was there to put an arm around them and listen to them.”

Shortly after Caleb’s body was found Wednesday morning, Stanley led a brief prayer for the search-and-rescue workers who remained. About 30 gathered on the low-water bridge and bowed their heads as Stanley prayed for the family and teams.

“Lord, may we put our arms around our little ones and hug them tightly tonight,” he said.

Randy Muir said his stepson had been looking forward to starting school in the fall and his mother was helping him prepare.

“She helped him every morning, every night — helped him write his name,” he said. “‘Cause now, evidently, you have to know how to write your name and count to 10.

“He could count fine,” Randy Muir said. “He kept getting his Zs backward. He couldn’t quite get his Zs right. But he was getting there.”

Randy Muir said Caleb was always cheerful.

“I see him happy all the time. I’ve seen him jumping off of couches, you know, and just a big smile on his face,” he said.

He also thanked the searchers for their work and those who had prayed for the family.

Hardy Police Chief Ernie Rose, who helped in the search over the weekend, said the river had dropped about 3 feet since Saturday. The South Fork River takes runoff from the hills and often flash-floods, he said.

“It’s dangerous,” he said of the river. “We’ve seen a lot of people go into the river and not make it out over the years.”

Rose’s son, Scott Rose, is a Jonesboro police officer who also helped in the search.

“The river is still extremely swift,” Scott Rose said Wednesday. “It’s a tough current to be in.”

Scott Rose said rescuers had thrown ropes across the river to anchor search boats and keep them from being swept downstream.

He said he was preparing to send an underwater camera into a pile of debris when he heard searchers had found Caleb.

“It was tough not knowing where he was,” Scott Rose said. “Until they found the shirt, we had no assurance that he was in the water. We had 900 acres of land to search. It was pretty extreme land. And what made it harder was that we were looking for a 4-yearold boy.”

Foley said he has called the Arkansas State Police’s criminal investigation division to determine whether any neglect contributed to Caleb’s death. But he said it was too early to comment on that and a prosecutor would make a final determination.

“It’s dangerous with small kids,” he said. “Watch your kids. Don’t let them take off alone. Make sure when they’re around water that you’ve got a life jacket for them.

“This is a hard lesson for that family,” Foley said. “It’s the ultimate. You can’t be any worse than that.”

Front Section, Pages 1 on 03/29/2012

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