ATTORNEYS IN BURIED-BABY CASE WANT IT DISMISSED
As investigators continue to piece together the tragic puzzle of an infant who fell under the waters of the Mad River — new documents show that the infant and her family were among several people who needed to be rescued from the same stretch of the river in just the last month.
The Dayton Daily News requested incident reports from the German Twp. Fire & EMS department. The agency’s crews responded to four water rescues in July, all of which were concentrated in the same area around where the Ohio 55 bridge crosses the Mad River in Champaign County.
On July 6, German Twp. rescue crews went out to the river twice — within a block’s distance of each other.
Rescuers were called out first around noon. When crews got on scene, everyone was out of the water but crews were able to return items to the people that they had lost in the river.
The same day, crews were called out again for four people trapped on a boat, but the incident ended safely without any injuries.
Reports show that German Twp. was back out on the river a week later near the area of West Dallas Road and Mad River.
In this case, multiple people were stranded on an island on the river.
One person was loaded onto a boat to be picked up by a waiting crew and the others were helped across the river.
But the last incident — on July 23 — was the most tragic.
A baby, since identified as 1-year-old Miya Ye, of Bellefontaine, was on a canoe trip with her family through Birch Bark Canoe Livery.
Miya and her family missed their exit at Ohio 55 and their canoes became stuck on an underwater tree. The family’s canoes overturned, dumping Miya into the rushing water. The child was pulled from the river and rushed to an area hospital, where she died.
The owner of Birch Bark previously told the Springfield News-Sun that the business requires anyone under age 12 to have a life jacket on before they take off on the water, and staff said when the family left — everyone was properly equipped.
But whether Miya had her life jacket on at the time she went under the water is unclear.
The incident is under investigation by the Champaign County Sheriff ’s Office.
Chief Deputy Eric Holmes said at the time of the incident, the sheriff’s office wasn’t able to gather a lot of witness information — but what they did learn from people in the area was that there may have been a man who was fishing near the bridge at the time.
“A Caucasian male, middle aged. He was supposedly fly-fishing in the area near the Route 55 bridge on Mad River,” said Holmes. “Possibly driving a blue Dodge pick up truck.
The sheriff ’s office is now asking for the public’s help in finding the man — he’s not a suspect, but he may have seen the family or what happened that day on the river.
Anyone with information about who the possible witness could be is asked to call the Champaign County Sheriff ’s Office Investigations Division at 937-484-6091.