Rescued Girl Says Mom Missing in Lake

By MARCUS KABEL

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Divers searched a lake for another body Wednesday after fishermen heard loud splashes before dawn and rescued a 5-year-old girl from the water.

The girl later told investigators her mother was also in the lake, and investigators were approaching the case as a possible homicide, Greene County Sheriff’s chief deputy Jim Arnott said.

“We’re under the assumption that the child was thrown in,” Arnott said.

He said authorities were looking for a man seen on a bridge that crosses McDaniel Lake, just north of Springfield. Authorities did not release the name of the child but said she was in stable condition.

Arnott said three fishermen heard the loud splashes about 5:30 a.m. Using flashlights, they spotted the girl in the dark water below the bridge and jumped in to pull her out.

Officials were interviewing the girl Wednesday morning while Springfield Fire Department divers searched the lake, created by a river dam north of Springfield. McDaniel Lake is about 40 feet deep below the bridge. Safety railings on either side of the bridge are about chest-height and about 15 feet above the water.