Search for missing 8-year-old girl's body in Sherman hindered by recent heavy rain
The Brief
Volunteers with Texas EquuSearch had to pause their search efforts for the body of 8-year-old Clara Robinson on Thursday due to the recent heavy rain and high water.
Clara has been missing since her family's SUV hydroplaned on Christmas Eve into a drainage ditch. The crash also claimed her dad's life.
Search efforts will resume on Friday.
DALLAS - The heavy rain and high water prompted volunteers to pause their search Thursday for 8-year-old Clara Robinson.
The girl has been missing since her family's SUV hydroplaned on Christmas Eve into a drainage ditch.
The nonprofit Texas EquuSearch says it will be back out in Sherman Friday to continue the search for Clara more than a month after the crash that took her father's life.
What we know
Roughly 30 volunteers with the nonprofit are still at work to find the body of 8-year-old Clara Robinson, also known as CJ.
Mark Edwards. Texas EquuSearch's field operations manager, says the search poses a lot of challenges, both from the extreme cold this month as well as now the onslaught of rain, which may have carried Clara's remains farther away.
"It's a concern. We have a plan to put drones in the air tomorrow when that water starts to fall just for that reason," he said.
The backstory
The Robinson family's SUV hydroplaned Christmas Eve off Highway 75 near the Texas-Oklahoma border in Sherman. They were driving from Oklahoma to visit family in McKinney.
It crashed into a flooded drainage ditch and was carried to a nearby creek.
Clara's mother and three sisters managed to escape.
Her dad, a high school girls basketball coach in Durant, Oklahoma, died trying to save two of his girls. His body was found two and a half miles downstream from the crash.
Clara's 5-year-old sister was revived by first responders, but no signs of 8-year-old Clara have been found.
What they're saying
Edwards says volunteers are devoted to searches like this one to help the surviving family members.
"When you see the difference it makes for families, especially for moms. Moms suffer so immensely," he said.
Edwards says the community is doing all they can.
"Every property owner, every ranch owner will stand and tell me that they will do anything they need to do to help me find Clara Robinson," he said.
About Texas EquuSearch
The organization is the same one that has gotten involved in other high-profile searches in Texas, including the search for Christina Morris in Collin County, Vanessa Guillen near Fort Hood, and Maleah Davis near Houston.
When EquuSearch was founded, it used horses to conduct searches. Now, search volunteers have found ATVs to more effective. The organization is funded solely through donations.
The Houston-based organization says it never charges family members or law enforcement for its help.
The Source
Information in this article comes from the EqquSearch nonprofit organization, www.texasequusearch.org and previous FOX 4 reports.
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