National

Mom and 6-year-old son missing after car plunges into Washington river, police say

Rescuers are looking for a missing woman and her 6-year-old son in the Snoqualmie River in this Jan. 9, 2022, photo after a 35-year-old man crashed the vehicle, Washington State Patrol said. The man and his 8-month-old daughter survived.
Rescuers are looking for a missing woman and her 6-year-old son in the Snoqualmie River in this Jan. 9, 2022, photo after a 35-year-old man crashed the vehicle, Washington State Patrol said. The man and his 8-month-old daughter survived. Eastside Fire and Rescue

Update: The 6-year-old’s body was recovered from the Snoqualmie River on Tuesday, Jan. 11, according to the King County Sheriff’s Office and Washington State Patrol. The mother hasn’t been found yet. The child was initially identified as being 8 years old.

Original story:

A mother and her 6-year-old son are missing after their car plunged into a Washington river, officials told multiple news outlets.

The 35-year-old driver, of Carnation, lost control of the car around 1:48 a.m. while making a left turn in Fall City on Jan. 9, according to an incident report from the Washington State Patrol.

Then the car rolled into the Snoqualmie River with the family of four inside of it, KIRO-TV reported.

The man rescued his 8-month-old child, but the woman and the 6-year-old did not make it out of the car, KOMO reported. The woman and 6-year-old are presumed dead, officials said.

Eastside Fire and Rescue began searching for the woman and child but have not recovered their bodies.

Rescue crews located the family’s vehicle on Jan. 10 in 15 feet of water, KING-TV reported. The vehicle will be removed from the river on Jan. 11, the news outlet reported.

Drugs or alcohol were involved in the incident, and the driver was charged with driving under the influence, the report says. The father may also face vehicular homicide charges when the woman and child’s bodies have been found, KOMO reported.

Fall City is about 25 miles east of Seattle.

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This story was originally published January 10, 2022 at 1:35 PM with the headline "Mom and 6-year-old son missing after car plunges into Washington river, police say."

Helena Wegner
McClatchy DC
Helena Wegner is a McClatchy National Real-Time Reporter covering the state of Washington and the western region. She’s a journalism graduate from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She’s based in Phoenix.
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