Body of young child recovered from Mississippi River

The body of a six-year-old child who went missing in this past Saturday has been recovered in the Mississippi River. 

At approximately 11:00 a.m. the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office Water Patrol and Minnesota Department of Resources (DNR) recovered the body.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of this child," said Hennepin County Sheriff Dave Hutchinson. "This has been an extremely difficult few days. Water Patrol has been working tirelessly and the family has been at the scene the entire time. For them, this heartbreaking story is far from over, but we hope that the recovery of the child's body can be a first step towards healing."

At approximately 6:20 p.m. on Saturday (Aug. 29) the authorities responded to a 911 call of a missing six-year-old child in the Mississippi River off Boom Island. 

The child was part of a group of five children taken to the park to ride bikes. The group was supervised by two adults. According to the sheriff’s office, some of the children decided to wade in the water. Three of the children went in too deep and started to struggle. One of the adults was able to pull two of the three children from the water. 

The body was recovered near the Hennepin Avenue Bridge, approximately a half mile from where the children initially went into the river. 

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner will make a positive identification and release the name of the victim following official notification of family members.