Mom kayaks to sinking canoe to save daughter, but boyfriend goes under, OH cops say
One person is dead after a canoe overturned at an Ohio campsite, according to authorities.
On Sept. 6, deputies were called for reports of a 28-year-old man who went underwater and didn’t resurface, according to a Facebook post by the Logan County Sheriff’s Office.
The man was at Adventure Trails campground in Bellefontaine camping with his girlfriend and her 5-year-old daughter for the weekend, deputies said.
The man took the 5-year-old out on a canoe in a large pond when the girl began to scream as the canoe filled with water, according to deputies.
The girl’s mom got into a kayak, paddled out to the sinking canoe and rescued her daughter, but her boyfriend went underwater, deputies said. After getting her daughter to safety, the woman swam back out to the overturned canoe.
When deputies arrived, several of them jumped in the pond and brought the woman back, who was struggling to swim at that time, according to officials.
The woman reported that she thought her boyfriend may have been under the canoe.
Rescue teams began looking for the man for several hours, but were unable to locate him.
Then, around 7:30 p.m., about six hours after the canoe overturned, the man’s body was found, deputies said.
Authorities said the man wasn’t wearing a life jacket at the time.
Bellefontaine is about a 60-mile drive northwest from Columbus.
This story was originally published September 8, 2025 at 3:00 PM with the headline "Mom kayaks to sinking canoe to save daughter, but boyfriend goes under, OH cops say."
