July 21, 2026
Children Orphaned As Two Sets Of Parents Drown Trying To Save Struggling Swimmer
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RSS Feed An incredible tragedy out of Ohio has authorities reminding people to check weather and water conditions before going out to have fun during summer outings. A total of 5 people drowned after trying to save one person in their group who began struggling while swimming in a local river. Two children under the age of 10 were left to try and get help for their family, but it was too late. This comes on the heels of another drowning tragedy in Southern Utah, as a hiking adventure turned deadly for all five family members when flash flooding swept through red rock canyons.
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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey there, everybody. It is Tuesday, July twenty first, and there was a tragedy in Ohio. But it has officials warning so many people. It's summertime. We're out for adventures with our family. Maybe we don't think to check the weather, we don't think to check water conditions. But my god, this story out of Ohio is going to have you rethinking all of that. And with that, everyone, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. This was a tough one to wake up to today to hear word that not one, not two, but five members of a group all died trying to save the life of one struggling swimmer, and it orphaned two children under the age of ten.
00:00:47
Speaker 2: This and look at summertime, we've seen a few tragedies. It's not you hear the numbers. Yes, it's awful. You hear five people die in one incident, That is awful. The details of this are our gutting. Because only one person possibly was in trouble, you have the rest of them in they're just trying to help ros And there was something about that part of it, that this was all just everybody trying to help everybody, and everybody ended up dead.
00:01:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think that's part of the reason why, because it felt so unnecessary, and yet you knew the motive. The motivation behind all these folks who ended up dying was to try and help, to try and save someone who was struggling. But it didn't have to go this way. We can give you the details of what happened. This was just outside of Columbus. It was a Columbus suburb in Ohio. A river there and this was later at night. There were two sets of parents and a fifth person. We don't have the identities. They are still notifying family members because this has just been such a sudden, awful tragedy. But what happened. Imagine you're driving along the road and so when one stops and sees a young child under the age of ten yelling, please help. My family is in the river, and that is when a nine to one one call was placed. And look what search and rescue teams found was just horrific. And the way it all played out, the way we understand it happened, is just incredibly said. But yes, it began with one person late at night, around eight thirty nine o'clock at night who went swimming in a river and started to struggle, was having a tough time swimming, and look, I'm not.
00:02:34
Speaker 2: Aware of sunset in Ohio in the summer, but bro it was being out on a water, on a lake, on a river in the darkest dangerous. You know. It just is not sure how that might have factored in, but it was one of the first things I thought of when I heard this story, like, wait a minute, can't see anything. You can't you don't know what's in that water, which way is it move So just the circumstances, we don't know. But I wondered if that factored into the story.
00:03:06
Speaker 1: Oh yes, certainly, the time of day, you might not have just your best visibility there. But when the one person was in there struggling, the reports are two people win it. Okay, so you're thinking, I got two people jumping into the river and trying to save this one person. Now both of the rescuers are now struggling, and now you've got three people struggling instead of running and getting help. And maybe they didn't think there was enough time. Maybe someone didn't have or they didn't have their cell phones. It's unclear because none of the adults in this group called nine to one one. So perhaps it was that threatening and that immediate, and the risk was they knew they only had moments. So now you've got two other people, two other adults go into the river trying to now save the three who are struggling to swim, and that is when you see this under ten year old child trying to get help from folks. So nine one ones called emergency crews get there and they're pretty quickly able to pull out two women. They were rushed to the hospital, but unfortunately they both died in the hospital. Babe. It wasn't until the next day, on Monday, that they found the bodies of three men, and they now believe yes, two sets of parents and two children under the age of ten. But we are learning now. We spoke about the conditions. That river was not in its typical form, and you often get warnings, but people don't pay attention. This river had warnings, yes, and so they were told that it was running fast and high. On Sunday there was a water gage at a nearby dam. Yeah, how often do you pay attention? I don't know. You don't go swimming in rivers and lakes and oceans even that much. But if you were, you strike me as the type you are risk averse. Babe.
00:04:58
Speaker 2: You check weather, I do, and I generally stay out of water. I can't see what's in it. That's just a general rule I have. But yes, people enjoy lakes and rivers and whatnot all the time. It's I think about it more so in the ocean, looking out for warnings of high tides and the healthy occurrence even sharks. These days, you look out for that stuff. I don't. I spend a decent amount of time going to a river, spending time boating and whatnot. I have to say, I don't keep an eye out. Hey, what's the tide, what's the flow, what's the warning. I don't look at that. I honestly do not. And I would imagine a group just going to hang out at night, and I don't.
00:05:40
Speaker 1: Know, I don't know they had been there fishing, They had just been hanging out, enjoying the day, and so yes, it's a little hot, they were getting in there to cool down. But I thought this was pretty significant. They said that it had been reported that that water in that river was flowing at a fourfold increase over a three day period. So to break that down. They say that the river was rushing at more than double the average rate, because think about that, for a current like that to take out five people who I'm going to assume could swim, I don't think you would jump into the river to try and save someone if you yourself weren't able to swim. So to think about it just quickly taking over five adults like that, that is certainly scary stuff. And so the sheriff out there just was urging folks to please pay attention and look, I don't know, how are you on life jackets? Life preservers go swimming in a river. Most adults wouldn't want to. Think it's uncomfortable, think it doesn't look good. I think most adults think it's for kids. And the sheriff there said everyone should have a life preserver.
00:06:48
Speaker 2: You should, but it's not required right in most places, at least I've been a kid. Under a certain age, you are required on a boat even to have a life jacket on. I absolutely, I can't remember a single boat I've gotten on where I was the boater, and I'm driving that I kept a life jacket on the whole time. Just do not, And that is the truth. And I see most people when I'm on a boat as we're passing them and we're waving to fellow boaters, nobody has a life jacket on.
00:07:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, and babe, that's on a boat. Now, imagine you're fishing on the shore, decide to go in for a swim. Wait, let me go, put on my life best. But look, the sheriff said, in these types of cases, with rivers that are moving this quickly, anyone who lives by a river, you gotta check. You gotta check the forecast. You got to see where those river levels are. There was a nearby dam. And again, I guess this is something that folks know about, or some folks who are locals check before they get in. But these currents are deadly. Water is one of the biggest killers in this country. Think about all the natural weather events we have. It's water. It's not wind, it's not tornadoes. It's the power of water. And we have certainly covered that when we've covered floods. People underestimate it. When they're driving through water, let alone waiting in water.
00:08:01
Speaker 2: The fire scares the hell out of everybody. Right, we feel that as a different threat. But yeah, water is responsible for more deaths, and we see it in the rescues we've seen recent to flooding issues. They're like water comes up on you and it will take you out. There are cars flowing down the damn street. Obviously it'll take your one hundred and seventy pound body down the street or whatever. Maybe it just we don't in our minds. I wouldn't think I'm not going to put on a life jacket if I want to take a quick depth to cool off. Nobody's going to do that, yep.
00:08:35
Speaker 1: But the hope is that after hearing about this story, because this is truly one of those tragedies that, yes, is rare. But when you read those headlines and you hear about two children under the age of ten who now are in protective care, there are in family services now in the state of Ohio, and look not just to give you an idea of just the scope of this, one of the folks who came up on these kids said, the one younger child, who is between four and six, was walking just calling out his mom's name, Mama, Mama, mama. And if that doesn't move you, I don't know what will. This is just one of those cautionary tales as folks go out into the ocean and rivers and lakes and streams, to just please recognize the power of water and the power of mother nature, because this had devastating tragic effects obviously for this entire family and everyone who loved them. But the scary thing is you said you had heard about this other story adjacent to this story. Just two days before, there was another family tragedy in Utah. Wait until you hear what happened to this family of five and how again officials are urging folks to please plan accordingly before you head out on a family adventure. We'll be right back and tu welcome back everyone here on Amy and TJ. We're on one of our family vacations here and look, a lot of folks are traveling, going out in adventures, even day trips with their families, hiking, camping, swimming. And look, we told you about what happened in Ohio, but what happened in southern Utah. This was a devastating story to hear about family of five went out for a hike. When you go out for a hike, I don't think you're thinking about drowning.
00:10:31
Speaker 2: We made of course ROMs Sarah, something comes up on you suddenly not paying attention to weather. Hell, the first thing that came to mind was avalanche. Is when you go hiking up a mountain, you got to know what the forecast is or things like that. This is the same, or at least this situation is similar. And where water comes up on you to a way, you get swept away and you can't escape it. You cannot escape water. The only thing to do, is why you have seen rescues happen to people holding on to trees and they're on roofs. That's the only thing you can do. You can't survive rushing water like that. You just cannot. So, yes, this happened out in Utah, and it sounds you think Utah like wait a minute, you say Utah to me. I close my eyes, I see rocks, I see dryness all around.
00:11:18
Speaker 1: And that is exactly the point, because when you have rocks and dryness, and maybe if you're not from the area and you don't understand, there's nowhere for that water to go. There's no ground, there's no grass, there's no tree, there's no soil. There are red rocks, and that is exactly where this family of five was hiking in the Red Rock Canyons. And look, this was a captain in the Provo Fire Department, his wife and their three sons. They actually have a daughter who wasn't on the hike with them. She is the sole survivor of this family because, yeah, they were hiking in an area you don't think about rain, you don't think about water. But this flash flood swept through these canyons because of heavy rains while they were on their hike, and they didn't have a chance. And authorities there are just begging folks. You have to check. You have to check the weather forecast before you go out in nature, before you go out on a hike. And this is something that I can't even imagine foreseeing. And yet look, you and I we were going out for the weekend, going out. You're looking at the radar. I see you looking at the radar every day before we head out. What do we need? How do we prepare ourselves? Is it worth an adventure if we think lightning, thunder, flash flooding. This is something that I admit I don't necessarily take it seriously. You have been someone who I can see planning and preparing and I appreciate it, but more people need to be thinking about it in those terms.
00:12:45
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm risk averse in that way. I don't know what I was it. Even when I'm doing all that, I don't necessarily I don't go even when we go to the ocean, when we go to the beach, I'm not looking at rip currents. I'm not paying attention. They say don't get in the water, then don't get in the water. It's just scary. Water is scary, and at night it's scarier. It's just robes. It's a reminder. It's a sad reminder, but you gotta pay attention. And any lake or river, I think I got it. I'm good. There's no problem long as don't have a boating accident. And that's what my mind is. I'm not thinking about something grabbing a hold of me in this calm looking river at least compared to an ocean, and no waves, crashing robes. It's just those are the things. Water is nothing to mess around with, especially you throw in at nighttime. You throw an alcohol, you're throwing kids, you throw in families, you throw in. Just so much can happen. Just a reminder, Please, if nothing else you take from this story, just as you go out and do whatever you're going to do, having anything to do with water, take a be, take a moment, make a plan of some kind.
00:13:46
Speaker 1: And those are certainly words to live by. And that is what authorities in both of those areas are reminding folks who are going out for fun, for adventure with their families on this summer to please please, yes, don't dwell on the stories, but remember them. Member that just a little bit of prevention can go a long way in not only making your trip more comfortable, but even in worst case scenarios, saving your life. And with that, everyone, we always appreciate you listening to us. I'm Amy Roboch alongside TJ. Holmes. We'll talk soon.
Speaker 1: Hey there, everybody. It is Tuesday, July twenty first, and there was a tragedy in Ohio. But it has officials warning so many people. It's summertime. We're out for adventures with our family. Maybe we don't think to check the weather, we don't think to check water conditions. But my god, this story out of Ohio is going to have you rethinking all of that. And with that, everyone, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. This was a tough one to wake up to today to hear word that not one, not two, but five members of a group all died trying to save the life of one struggling swimmer, and it orphaned two children under the age of ten.
00:00:47
Speaker 2: This and look at summertime, we've seen a few tragedies. It's not you hear the numbers. Yes, it's awful. You hear five people die in one incident, That is awful. The details of this are our gutting. Because only one person possibly was in trouble, you have the rest of them in they're just trying to help ros And there was something about that part of it, that this was all just everybody trying to help everybody, and everybody ended up dead.
00:01:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think that's part of the reason why, because it felt so unnecessary, and yet you knew the motive. The motivation behind all these folks who ended up dying was to try and help, to try and save someone who was struggling. But it didn't have to go this way. We can give you the details of what happened. This was just outside of Columbus. It was a Columbus suburb in Ohio. A river there and this was later at night. There were two sets of parents and a fifth person. We don't have the identities. They are still notifying family members because this has just been such a sudden, awful tragedy. But what happened. Imagine you're driving along the road and so when one stops and sees a young child under the age of ten yelling, please help. My family is in the river, and that is when a nine to one one call was placed. And look what search and rescue teams found was just horrific. And the way it all played out, the way we understand it happened, is just incredibly said. But yes, it began with one person late at night, around eight thirty nine o'clock at night who went swimming in a river and started to struggle, was having a tough time swimming, and look, I'm not.
00:02:34
Speaker 2: Aware of sunset in Ohio in the summer, but bro it was being out on a water, on a lake, on a river in the darkest dangerous. You know. It just is not sure how that might have factored in, but it was one of the first things I thought of when I heard this story, like, wait a minute, can't see anything. You can't you don't know what's in that water, which way is it move So just the circumstances, we don't know. But I wondered if that factored into the story.
00:03:06
Speaker 1: Oh yes, certainly, the time of day, you might not have just your best visibility there. But when the one person was in there struggling, the reports are two people win it. Okay, so you're thinking, I got two people jumping into the river and trying to save this one person. Now both of the rescuers are now struggling, and now you've got three people struggling instead of running and getting help. And maybe they didn't think there was enough time. Maybe someone didn't have or they didn't have their cell phones. It's unclear because none of the adults in this group called nine to one one. So perhaps it was that threatening and that immediate, and the risk was they knew they only had moments. So now you've got two other people, two other adults go into the river trying to now save the three who are struggling to swim, and that is when you see this under ten year old child trying to get help from folks. So nine one ones called emergency crews get there and they're pretty quickly able to pull out two women. They were rushed to the hospital, but unfortunately they both died in the hospital. Babe. It wasn't until the next day, on Monday, that they found the bodies of three men, and they now believe yes, two sets of parents and two children under the age of ten. But we are learning now. We spoke about the conditions. That river was not in its typical form, and you often get warnings, but people don't pay attention. This river had warnings, yes, and so they were told that it was running fast and high. On Sunday there was a water gage at a nearby dam. Yeah, how often do you pay attention? I don't know. You don't go swimming in rivers and lakes and oceans even that much. But if you were, you strike me as the type you are risk averse. Babe.
00:04:58
Speaker 2: You check weather, I do, and I generally stay out of water. I can't see what's in it. That's just a general rule I have. But yes, people enjoy lakes and rivers and whatnot all the time. It's I think about it more so in the ocean, looking out for warnings of high tides and the healthy occurrence even sharks. These days, you look out for that stuff. I don't. I spend a decent amount of time going to a river, spending time boating and whatnot. I have to say, I don't keep an eye out. Hey, what's the tide, what's the flow, what's the warning. I don't look at that. I honestly do not. And I would imagine a group just going to hang out at night, and I don't.
00:05:40
Speaker 1: Know, I don't know they had been there fishing, They had just been hanging out, enjoying the day, and so yes, it's a little hot, they were getting in there to cool down. But I thought this was pretty significant. They said that it had been reported that that water in that river was flowing at a fourfold increase over a three day period. So to break that down. They say that the river was rushing at more than double the average rate, because think about that, for a current like that to take out five people who I'm going to assume could swim, I don't think you would jump into the river to try and save someone if you yourself weren't able to swim. So to think about it just quickly taking over five adults like that, that is certainly scary stuff. And so the sheriff out there just was urging folks to please pay attention and look, I don't know, how are you on life jackets? Life preservers go swimming in a river. Most adults wouldn't want to. Think it's uncomfortable, think it doesn't look good. I think most adults think it's for kids. And the sheriff there said everyone should have a life preserver.
00:06:48
Speaker 2: You should, but it's not required right in most places, at least I've been a kid. Under a certain age, you are required on a boat even to have a life jacket on. I absolutely, I can't remember a single boat I've gotten on where I was the boater, and I'm driving that I kept a life jacket on the whole time. Just do not, And that is the truth. And I see most people when I'm on a boat as we're passing them and we're waving to fellow boaters, nobody has a life jacket on.
00:07:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, and babe, that's on a boat. Now, imagine you're fishing on the shore, decide to go in for a swim. Wait, let me go, put on my life best. But look, the sheriff said, in these types of cases, with rivers that are moving this quickly, anyone who lives by a river, you gotta check. You gotta check the forecast. You got to see where those river levels are. There was a nearby dam. And again, I guess this is something that folks know about, or some folks who are locals check before they get in. But these currents are deadly. Water is one of the biggest killers in this country. Think about all the natural weather events we have. It's water. It's not wind, it's not tornadoes. It's the power of water. And we have certainly covered that when we've covered floods. People underestimate it. When they're driving through water, let alone waiting in water.
00:08:01
Speaker 2: The fire scares the hell out of everybody. Right, we feel that as a different threat. But yeah, water is responsible for more deaths, and we see it in the rescues we've seen recent to flooding issues. They're like water comes up on you and it will take you out. There are cars flowing down the damn street. Obviously it'll take your one hundred and seventy pound body down the street or whatever. Maybe it just we don't in our minds. I wouldn't think I'm not going to put on a life jacket if I want to take a quick depth to cool off. Nobody's going to do that, yep.
00:08:35
Speaker 1: But the hope is that after hearing about this story, because this is truly one of those tragedies that, yes, is rare. But when you read those headlines and you hear about two children under the age of ten who now are in protective care, there are in family services now in the state of Ohio, and look not just to give you an idea of just the scope of this, one of the folks who came up on these kids said, the one younger child, who is between four and six, was walking just calling out his mom's name, Mama, Mama, mama. And if that doesn't move you, I don't know what will. This is just one of those cautionary tales as folks go out into the ocean and rivers and lakes and streams, to just please recognize the power of water and the power of mother nature, because this had devastating tragic effects obviously for this entire family and everyone who loved them. But the scary thing is you said you had heard about this other story adjacent to this story. Just two days before, there was another family tragedy in Utah. Wait until you hear what happened to this family of five and how again officials are urging folks to please plan accordingly before you head out on a family adventure. We'll be right back and tu welcome back everyone here on Amy and TJ. We're on one of our family vacations here and look, a lot of folks are traveling, going out in adventures, even day trips with their families, hiking, camping, swimming. And look, we told you about what happened in Ohio, but what happened in southern Utah. This was a devastating story to hear about family of five went out for a hike. When you go out for a hike, I don't think you're thinking about drowning.
00:10:31
Speaker 2: We made of course ROMs Sarah, something comes up on you suddenly not paying attention to weather. Hell, the first thing that came to mind was avalanche. Is when you go hiking up a mountain, you got to know what the forecast is or things like that. This is the same, or at least this situation is similar. And where water comes up on you to a way, you get swept away and you can't escape it. You cannot escape water. The only thing to do, is why you have seen rescues happen to people holding on to trees and they're on roofs. That's the only thing you can do. You can't survive rushing water like that. You just cannot. So, yes, this happened out in Utah, and it sounds you think Utah like wait a minute, you say Utah to me. I close my eyes, I see rocks, I see dryness all around.
00:11:18
Speaker 1: And that is exactly the point, because when you have rocks and dryness, and maybe if you're not from the area and you don't understand, there's nowhere for that water to go. There's no ground, there's no grass, there's no tree, there's no soil. There are red rocks, and that is exactly where this family of five was hiking in the Red Rock Canyons. And look, this was a captain in the Provo Fire Department, his wife and their three sons. They actually have a daughter who wasn't on the hike with them. She is the sole survivor of this family because, yeah, they were hiking in an area you don't think about rain, you don't think about water. But this flash flood swept through these canyons because of heavy rains while they were on their hike, and they didn't have a chance. And authorities there are just begging folks. You have to check. You have to check the weather forecast before you go out in nature, before you go out on a hike. And this is something that I can't even imagine foreseeing. And yet look, you and I we were going out for the weekend, going out. You're looking at the radar. I see you looking at the radar every day before we head out. What do we need? How do we prepare ourselves? Is it worth an adventure if we think lightning, thunder, flash flooding. This is something that I admit I don't necessarily take it seriously. You have been someone who I can see planning and preparing and I appreciate it, but more people need to be thinking about it in those terms.
00:12:45
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm risk averse in that way. I don't know what I was it. Even when I'm doing all that, I don't necessarily I don't go even when we go to the ocean, when we go to the beach, I'm not looking at rip currents. I'm not paying attention. They say don't get in the water, then don't get in the water. It's just scary. Water is scary, and at night it's scarier. It's just robes. It's a reminder. It's a sad reminder, but you gotta pay attention. And any lake or river, I think I got it. I'm good. There's no problem long as don't have a boating accident. And that's what my mind is. I'm not thinking about something grabbing a hold of me in this calm looking river at least compared to an ocean, and no waves, crashing robes. It's just those are the things. Water is nothing to mess around with, especially you throw in at nighttime. You throw an alcohol, you're throwing kids, you throw in families, you throw in. Just so much can happen. Just a reminder, Please, if nothing else you take from this story, just as you go out and do whatever you're going to do, having anything to do with water, take a be, take a moment, make a plan of some kind.
00:13:46
Speaker 1: And those are certainly words to live by. And that is what authorities in both of those areas are reminding folks who are going out for fun, for adventure with their families on this summer to please please, yes, don't dwell on the stories, but remember them. Member that just a little bit of prevention can go a long way in not only making your trip more comfortable, but even in worst case scenarios, saving your life. And with that, everyone, we always appreciate you listening to us. I'm Amy Roboch alongside TJ. Holmes. We'll talk soon.