Body of 5-year-old girl is found in river
The body of a 5-year-old girl with autism who fell into the Stanislaus River in Northern California on Sunday was found by divers Wednesday, the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department said.
Rescue workers spent four days searching for Matilda Ortiz, who was swept away in the deep, fastmoving river when she slipped off a rock near the 330-foot Knights Ferry covered bridge, which overlooks the river.
Her father jumped in to save Matilda but was unable to reach her because of the swift current, authorities said.
Hikers and other bystanders also tried to rescue the girl, with one man briefly able to grab her clothing before the river’s current ripped her from his hands.
“It doesn’t feel real,” her father told Sacramento’s CBS 13 channel this week. “It feels like a nightmare I just want to wake up from. I want to hug my baby.”
Trained volunteer divers found Matilda’s body near a Knights Ferry campground about 4:45 p.m. Wednesday.
Since Monday, county officials worked with state agencies to slow the flow of water from the New Melones Dam to try to lower the river level. Water releases at the dam resumed after the girl’s body was found, and the river’s levels were expected to rise throughout the evening.
The Stanislaus River — which plunges out of the Sierra Nevada through rapids and canyons toward the San Joaquin Valley — was flowing at a rate of about 4,200 cubic feet per second Sunday in the area where Matilda fell in, according to the Sheriff ’s Department.
Knights Ferry, once a Gold Rush town, sits next to the river and is a popular site for families and outdoors enthusiasts. Thousands of visitors take rafting trips in the summer and visit the area’s hiking trails.
On Sunday, as visitors flocked to the site to enjoy the clear weather, the Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District was called to the site for a water rescue. There were reports of nine people in the river unable to get out.
The first boat to arrive recovered one man in a tree. Seven other people got out of the river with help or on their own.
The only person still missing was Matilda.