Investigators to probe how child survived boating accident that killed Twin-Cities woman

Posted on August 1, 2017

 

 

 

 

Liz Larson with WJBC’s Howard Packowitz at Rivian Automotive in Normal on June 6. Larson drowned in a boating accident Saturday at the Wilmington Dam on the Kankakee River. (Photo Courtesy of Howard Packowitz)

By Howard Packowitz

NORMAL – Authorities said the investigation into the death of a Twin-Cities woman in a boating accident on the Kankakee River will include how a young girl riding with her survived the tragedy.

A spokesman for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Ed Cross, said it’s relatively early in the investigation.

Cross said 36-year old Liz Larson of Normal and the child, 6, were on an inflatable raft that overturned on the Wilmington Dam.

Cross said the watercraft became trapped in the boil of the dam. That’s where water pouring over the dam meets water flowing under it.

Preliminary autopsy results indicate Larson drowned, but the Will County Coroner’s office said it will take four-to-six weeks for final autopsy results, including toxicology tests.

The girl was taken to a local hospital as a precaution, but Cross said she was unharmed. Cross said Larson and the child were apparently not related, although he could not say how they knew each other.

The accident happened at the same spot where two youngsters drowned over Memorial Day weekend of last year.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]

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