The Livingston County Sheriff’s Office is investigating after two adults allegedly took an 8-year-old and a bottle of vodka on a float trip on the Thompson and Grand Rivers resulting in a multi-agency search.
According to a news release from Sheriff Steve Cox, around 6:30 p.m. Sunday a man and a woman who were not Livingston County residents took an 8-year-old Cameron child, which was not their own on a self-guided float trip. Cox said the trip began on the Thompson and Grand Rivers from Highway 190 and ended at U.S. 36 Highway.
“These people told a person to pick them up in one hour, believing that is all it would take to float that distance,” Sheriff Cox said. “One adult did take a cell phone with only 1/3 battery power and thought this would be sufficient in event of an emergency. The adults had cheap air up float devices for their excursion.”
Cox said sometime during the night the adults began to believe they had went past the meeting point and made their way to the river bank and waited for daylight for help. He said the person responsible for picking them up called dispatch shortly before 12:30 a.m. Monday when they had not arrived.
“Subsequent searching of the area involved three members of the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office and a Missouri State Trooper. Searching of the vast area lasted several hours and finally a deputy and trooper on the east bank of the Thompson River found the three people on the west side,” Cox said. “The group did not feel safe crossing the river to meet the officers which resulted in LCSO staff going to the west side and wading through a lot of thick heavy brush and weeds to reach the group. A deputy carried the small child out due to having lost a shoe. The officers finally had the group off the river at 3:55 a.m.”
Cox said one adult reportedly had a bottle of vodka for the trip. Also, at the time of the release Cox said it was unclear if the child’s parents were actually aware of their child being on the float trip.
“The group had no flashlights and overall were poorly prepared for their venture,” Cox said. “The majority of the river was too shallow for a boat to search for the group by water.”
No injuries were reported.
Because a young child was involved in the situation, Cox said a report will be submitted to Prosecuting Attorney Adam Warren for consideration of Endangering the Welfare of a Child charge.