Last Monday night, a woman stepped off the precipice of Niagara Falls with her two young children, as reported to state and park police at Luna Island by eyewitnesses.
The jump was over a four-foot guardrail at the island, a fatal jump for the three. On Wednesday, police said that they were still unable to recover the bodies during search and rescue.
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The mother jumped off Niagara Falls
Chianti Means, the 33-year-old mother, jumped off the guardrail at Luna Island, the small island between American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls in New York.
The mother also took her two children with her, Roman, who was nine years old, and Mecca, who was just four months old.
Investigations on the matter have taken place
Since the report of the incident on Monday, and according to police reports on Wednesday, the search for the three bodies at the bottom of the waterfall took place over multiple days but, as per the latest police reports, has remained unsuccessful.
The waterfall is quite heavy
Every second, 3,610 tons of water fall into the lake, burying anything that falls beneath them, even bodies.
According to previous incidents that have taken place at Niagara Falls, it may be plausible that the bodies may not be recovered.
This isn’t the first incident at the falls
The heavy waters have caused many of those who have fallen into them over the years to be found a lot further away, with one man’s body discovered 140 miles away in Lake Ontario years after his incident took place.
A man was found a couple of years later
Unfortunately, Means and her children are not the first to face the fatal drop of Niagara Falls. In 1990, Vincent C. Stack of Buffalo, New York, went missing at the age of 40.
His body remains were then found two years later, in 1992, having been decomposed.
He had remained unidentified
It was difficult to identify Stack’s remains as this was after they had been “badly decomposed and mostly skeletal.”
But the DNA profile was found to match that of the DNA collected from his family, bringing them closure as to where his body had gone.
The body had traveled 15 miles
Police said that his remains had traveled 15 miles into the river after having gone over the falls, only to be then carried by the water 130 miles across Lake Ontario and to the shores of the city of Oswego.
A fatal drop also took place in the ’80s
In 1981, another incident occurred where a mother, Dunia Sayegh, dropped her 11-month-old son Hesham Sayegh into the waterfall, getting charged with manslaughter but having the case thrown out a year later.
Niagara Falls can be a dangerous spot that requires high levels of care.
Means had been posting on social media
Facebook posts written by Means have also resurfaced since the incident. In one, she was expressing love for her daughter, calling her beautiful.
In other posts, she was communicating her desire to get back with her daughter’s father, saying that she regrets the breakup.
Her friends expressed their grievances online
One of Means’ friends wrote, “You really never know what anybody is going through….RIP.”
Another said, “I am literally sick to my stomach and I can’t even deal with the emotions I am feeling. Just know her and her children are dearly loved by me and my children.”
Last Updated on November 4, 2024 by Sarah Kester
