Body of girl swept away in Smithfield floodwaters is found; brother still missing
UPDATE: Rescue crews also have found the body of a missing 4-year-old boy. Find full coverage of Thursday’s search efforts in Smithfield here.
After a two-day search, a rescue party Wednesday found the body of a 5-year-old girl swept away when flash flooding pushed her family’s car into a turbulent Smithfield creek. Her 4-year-old brother is still missing.
Abraham Martínez, 27, took comfort from a prayer group as he dealt with grief over his children, Alexa and Abraham Jr.
“My only duty right now is to find my son,” he said in Spanish during an interview with The News & Observer. “The Lord gave me back my daughter, and now just my son is missing. Even though she isn’t my biological daughter, I love her the same, and it hurts me a whole lot.”
A series of 911 recordings obtained by The News & Observer on Wednesday evening reveals that the children’s mother, Vanessa Castro, spent more than 20 minutes on her phone with emergency dispatchers just before midnight Monday as her car pushed further downstream toward the Neuse River.
“It’s up to my knees,” she said in a recording of her 911 call. “It’s up to my knees. It’s up to my knees! Baby, we’re not gonna die. Oh, my goodness. I don’t think I can get my kids out because I can’t see anything. I can’t see anything.”
Dispatchers calmly instructed her to roll down the windows, unlock the doors and get her children to safety on the roof, assuring her that help would arrive soon. She managed to get her son on the roof, she said on the 911 recording, but said the car had started to move and her daughter was stuck inside.
Soon, she said, she was clinging to a tree, unable to see either of her children as the car floated out of sight.
“She’s gone,” Castro wailed. “She’s gone. She’s in the water. She was so scared she wouldn’t let go.”
Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell, who had roughly 40 deputies out looking Wednesday and more from Wayne County in a helicopter above, said the girl’s body was recovered in a tributary only about a quarter-mile from Galilee Road, a portion of which washed away in the storm. Searchers discovered it next to a yellow rescue helmet.
“The body never made it to the Neuse River,” he said.
As rescue workers made efforts this week to find the two children, Bizzell talked about the emotional toll affecting first responders.
He described how six first responders were thrown into the water early Tuesday as their rescue boats were tossed against trees.
“One of the firemen had the little boy,” he said Wednesday, “and because of the raging water he got away.”
Martínez, a Mexican immigrant from the state of Durango, was in Charlotte for work in construction the night of the accident.
“I had barely arrived that morning for work and she called me about the accident,” he said. “When she called I didn’t even know what to do or what to say to her.”
“I’m trying my hardest to not break down, because if I break down, it’ll be worse,” Martínez said.
“I haven’t ate, I haven’t slept,” said Nancy Martínez, 31, a cousin of Abraham Martínez, in an interview with The N&O. “How can you sleep knowing that the children are still out there? But you gotta stay strong to support the family.”
Rescue efforts
Early Tuesday morning, after heavy rain throughout the region, Castro drove her white sedan around a bend and over the creek, where the pavement had washed away in one lane and created a sinkhole. She dialed 911 with the children inside in the car, Smithfield Fire Chief John Blanton said Tuesday during a news conference.
For hours, firefighters tried to reach them in swift boats, fighting darkness, floating debris, low branches and a rush of water. Rescuers on one of the boats plucked Castro and her son from the water.
Then, the boat capsized in the flood. In all, four rescue boats capsized, and everyone but the two children were saved, Blanton said.
Bizzell said the rescue effort took an emotional toll. One of the first responders thrown from his boat was also missing for a while before emerging the water, he said.
“For those of you that want to say defund the police and you don’t need us,” he said, “you need us.”
Martínez spent most of Wednesday joined by others at the public prayer group. The gathering grew in size as the long day moved forward and was joined by community members and a local Hispanic church.
The prayer group gathered in the parking lot of the Brightleaf Flea Market near the Neuse River, where family and friends earlier held hands on the nearby U.S. 301 bridge.
“The devil is laughing tonight, but he’s laughing alone,” said Donna Mitchell, a Garner resident who led the diverse group of people in prayer and encouraging words. “And the way we’re going to do that is through God.”
This story was originally published September 2, 2020 at 11:08 AM.
