Colorado Springs – A mother found the body of her 14-year-old son in a drainage culvert Wednesday, prompting rescuers to launch a search for the boy’s friend, who was found dead hours later.
The names of the boys will not be released until autopsies are completed today. Colorado Springs police Lt. Rafael Cintron said the boys accidentally drowned when a thunderstorm pounded the area Tuesday, dumping 2.56 inches of rain and a foot of hail on some parts of the city. More than 30 people were treated for hypothermia or other injuries.
The woman who found her son about 1 p.m. Wednesday near Woodmen Road and Austin Bluffs Parkway immediately called 911. She had reported her son missing at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday. A parent of the second boy reported him missing to police about 1 p.m.
The second boy, also 14 years old, was found in the 5700 block of Mark Dabling Boulevard, miles from the spot where the first body was found.
“They were friends and were reported as being together,” Cintron said. “We have no idea how they ended up in there.”
In Pueblo, authorities continued to search a stretch of the Arkansas River near the city’s new kayak park for 14-year-old Andrew McDaniel, who was tossed from a raft on Monday. He is presumed dead.
Gary Micheli, spokesman for the Pueblo Fire Department, said authorities hope to lower the water level in the kayak park to aid in the search, but it could be 10 days before the level drops.
Staff writer Erin Emery can be reached at 719-522-1360 or eemery@denverpost.com.
