Searchers find missing girl alive on Kankakee River
Divers from Lake of the Four Seasons, Ind., Fire Force and a boat from the Momence Fire Department return to State Line Road Thursday, June 14, 2007,, as they take a break in their search of the Kankakee River for the bodies of an unidentified man and his The Associated Press
June 15, 2007
MOMENCE, Ill. – A 5-year-old Villa Park girl who disappeared two days ago while boating in the Kankakee River walked up to searchers on Friday, hours after her grandfather’s body was pulled from the water.
Paramedics were checking on Hannah Klamecki’s condition, said Kankakee County Undersheriff Brad O’Keefe.
“She come walking up to us out of the woods,” O’Keefe said.
Searchers found the body of David Klamecki, 62, of Momence, in the water near a small island on Friday morning.
The body “was found floating in the river near where the boat was, which leads us to believe it was caught in a log jam and just got released by the current,” O’Keefe said.
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Hannah Klamecki told searchers her grandfather had gone swimming, O’Keefe said.
The two were last seen on the river near Momence at about 7 p.m. Wednesday. The sheriff’s office was notified at about 11 p.m. that they were missing.
Sonar equipment was used in the search that had been suspended at nightfall Thursday. Authorities have said that the river near the island drops suddenly from a few inches to 13 feet deep.
A number of agencies helped with the search, including Lake County, Ind., which sent a team of divers and a helicopter.
Also helping with the search was the Momence Fire Department, the Illinois State Police and the Illinois Department of Conservation, as well as the Kankakee County sheriff’s river patrol unit.
