Ohio River search resumes for bodies of 2 missing boys

LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. (FOX19) -Authorities are resuming a search along the Ohio River this weekend for the bodies of two missing children, including a young Middletown boy who police say died when his mother abandoned him at a park and he was dragged by her van trying to get back in.

Crews will be on the water Saturday and, weather permitting, Sunday in the hopes of finding the remains of 6-year-old James Hutchinson and 3-year-old Nylo Lattimore, says Preble County, Sheriff Mike Simpson.

Middletown police and Butler County prosecutors say James’ body was dumped into the Ohio River near Lawrenceburg, Indiana after he was killed by his mother, Brittany Gosney.

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The search of the river will be by sonar only Saturday, not with divers in the water, and focus in the Lawrenceburg area until about sunset, Sheriff Simpson said.

The current along the Ohio River is too fast currently to put divers in the water, he said.

Conditions along the swollen and fast-moving river have prevented crews from returning to the water before now. It’s been more than a week; they were last in the water on Wednesday, March 17.

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Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser went to the search scene last week and said there is a “high degree of probability” a body has been located in the area searchers plan to return to Saturday.

Gmoser said sonar and a cadaver dog both identified the dive spot last week.

When divers entered the water last week, it was despite a rapid current of two miles per hour, which is about a mile faster than any they’d normally consider going into.

If James’s body is recovered, it will be turned over to the Boone County Coroner’s Office.

Prosecutors have said in court records they believe the first grader was killed Feb. 27 when Gosney abandoned him and his two siblings, 7 and 9, at Rush Run Wildlife Area in Preble County.

Middletown police say she told them her boyfriend had been pressuring her to get rid of her children.

Her boyfriend, James Hamilton, also faces multiple charges in connection with the incident.

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