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Teen's body recovered from pond
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| Boats hook up on the water of a Roscoe pond in the Chicory Ridge subdivision as crews search for the body of Dana “D.J.” Beauchamp. The teenager’s body was recovered from the pond this morning. Photo provided by the Harlem-Roscoe Fire Department |
By Hillary Gavan
Daily News staff writer
Three day search ends in Roscoe
ROSCOE - After more than three days of searching police found drowning victim Dana “DJ” Beauchamp, 17, at about 7 a.m. today at the surface of the retention pond in the Chicory Ridge subdivision.
Village Trustee Scott Richardson said police had worked all night Wednesday searching for the boy.
In an effort to help the family, the Rock River Water Reclamation District and Rockford Blacktop began pumping water out of the retention pond Wednesday afternoon to help find the boy.
The Harlem-Roscoe Fire Department and other local dive crews started a search for the Hononegah High School student on Monday evening after his friends saw him slip under the water. Beauchamp's friends and family had been waiting outside the pond for the past two days for his body to be recovered.
For Richardson and Village President Dave Krienke, pumping the pond was the right thing to do.
“We were going to do everything possible for the family,” Krienke said. “My thoughts and prayers are with them.”
Richardson and Krienke said they started talking about pumping out the pond on Wednesday morning after other efforts to find the boy's body were exhausted.
“It was the morally right thing to do,” Krienke said.
Krienke called Rockford Blacktop and the Rock River Water Reclamation District asking for pumps on Wednesday morning and both responded immediately. As of 3 p.m. Wednesday, three pumps were sucking out water.
“We are taking the water down as fast as we can,” Krienke said Wednesday. “We are releasing water to another retention area on the property. We have brought down equipment to make sure we do this safely and without any environmental problems.”
Although Rock River Water Reclamation District and Rockford Blacktop volunteered to offer the pumps, Krienke said the money wasn't important.
As a father of two children, Krienke said he felt deep sorrow for the family of the boy and wanted to help them find their son as soon as possible.
Harlem-Roscoe Assistant Fire Chief Ken O'Dell also expressed concern for the family.
“Monday night we had 12 departments at the pond with boats and divers,” O'Dell said.
O'Dell said a buoy was deployed where witnesses said the boy went down in the water.
On Tuesday, sonar was used in addition to three canines. The dogs rode on the bow of the boats and alerted crews when they detected something under the water.
“Every dog is different. One dog will bark, another dog will bark once and lay down. And another dog will take his paw and lunge at the water,” O'Dell said.
After the dogs alerted divers to certain areas of the pond, they then marked the spots on a GPS system. The dive teams went back to those areas and dragged over them in two different directions.
The Harlem-Roscoe Fire Department worked Monday night and all day Tuesday trying to find the boy. When the village authorized Rock River Water Reclamation District and Rockford Blacktop to begin pumping the pond on Wednesday, Harlem-Roscoe's boats remained on the water searching for the boy.
O'Dell said the pond had so many weeds and so much mud on the bottom of it that it made finding the boy difficult. Dive crews discovered “holes” in the pond going 12 feet down.
“The divers had no sight whatsoever. The water's real murky. The most they could do was feel. They couldn't see an arm's length in front of them,” O'Dell said.
Although cameras were under water, the muddy waters were too dark for them to record any images.
“One of the divers told us when he was down in the bottom. He could reach down about a good foot or so in the muck. It made it that much harder to locate somebody,” O'Dell said.
ROSCOE - After more than three days of searching police found drowning victim Dana “DJ” Beauchamp, 17, at about 7 a.m. today at the surface of the retention pond in the Chicory Ridge subdivision.
Village Trustee Scott Richardson said police had worked all night Wednesday searching for the boy.
In an effort to help the family, the Rock River Water Reclamation District and Rockford Blacktop began pumping water out of the retention pond Wednesday afternoon to help find the boy.
The Harlem-Roscoe Fire Department and other local dive crews started a search for the Hononegah High School student on Monday evening after his friends saw him slip under the water. Beauchamp's friends and family had been waiting outside the pond for the past two days for his body to be recovered.
For Richardson and Village President Dave Krienke, pumping the pond was the right thing to do.
“We were going to do everything possible for the family,” Krienke said. “My thoughts and prayers are with them.”
Richardson and Krienke said they started talking about pumping out the pond on Wednesday morning after other efforts to find the boy's body were exhausted.
“It was the morally right thing to do,” Krienke said.
Krienke called Rockford Blacktop and the Rock River Water Reclamation District asking for pumps on Wednesday morning and both responded immediately. As of 3 p.m. Wednesday, three pumps were sucking out water.
“We are taking the water down as fast as we can,” Krienke said Wednesday. “We are releasing water to another retention area on the property. We have brought down equipment to make sure we do this safely and without any environmental problems.”
Although Rock River Water Reclamation District and Rockford Blacktop volunteered to offer the pumps, Krienke said the money wasn't important.
As a father of two children, Krienke said he felt deep sorrow for the family of the boy and wanted to help them find their son as soon as possible.
Harlem-Roscoe Assistant Fire Chief Ken O'Dell also expressed concern for the family.
“Monday night we had 12 departments at the pond with boats and divers,” O'Dell said.
O'Dell said a buoy was deployed where witnesses said the boy went down in the water.
On Tuesday, sonar was used in addition to three canines. The dogs rode on the bow of the boats and alerted crews when they detected something under the water.
“Every dog is different. One dog will bark, another dog will bark once and lay down. And another dog will take his paw and lunge at the water,” O'Dell said.
After the dogs alerted divers to certain areas of the pond, they then marked the spots on a GPS system. The dive teams went back to those areas and dragged over them in two different directions.
The Harlem-Roscoe Fire Department worked Monday night and all day Tuesday trying to find the boy. When the village authorized Rock River Water Reclamation District and Rockford Blacktop to begin pumping the pond on Wednesday, Harlem-Roscoe's boats remained on the water searching for the boy.
O'Dell said the pond had so many weeds and so much mud on the bottom of it that it made finding the boy difficult. Dive crews discovered “holes” in the pond going 12 feet down.
“The divers had no sight whatsoever. The water's real murky. The most they could do was feel. They couldn't see an arm's length in front of them,” O'Dell said.
Although cameras were under water, the muddy waters were too dark for them to record any images.
“One of the divers told us when he was down in the bottom. He could reach down about a good foot or so in the muck. It made it that much harder to locate somebody,” O'Dell said.
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