Mother, daughter die from being swept down a river in Sprague

By Evan Sobol, Luke Hajdasz, Eliza Kruczynski and Rob Polansky

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    SPRAGUE, Connecticut (WFSB) — A mother and daughter both died from being swept down a river in Sprague Tuesday, according to state police.

The mother’s family identified her as 39-year-old Kelly Dora of Norwich.

The child was identified by the family as 6-year-old Aralye McKeever.

They were swimming in the Shetucket River, according to Baltic Fire Chief Bob Tardif.

Tardif said they were in an area the locals call “River Pond” when they were swept downstream by high waters at approximately 5:25 p.m. on Tuesday.

“Seeing them floating in the river around the Norwich/Sprague line, by the time we retrieved them and got them to shore it was approximately 5:40, so about a 25 minute time frame in between,” Tardif said.

Neither Dora nor Aralye wore life jackets, officials said. Dora, however, had shoes on.

Both were taken to Backus Hospital. They were unconscious when transported, fire officials said.

Dora died at Backus Hospital on Tuesday.

Aralye died at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center on Wednesday, troopers confirmed.

Next of kin were notified.

Channel 3 spoke to the family on Wednesday. Family members did not wish to go on camera.

However, they said Dora was a nature lover who enjoyed being outside. They also described her as a strong swimmer.

“The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner was notified and will conduct an investigation to determine cause and manner of death,” state police said in a news release.

Tardif said they’re trying to figure out how the mother and daughter ended up in the river, but noted that they may never know.

“When you get caught up in moving water like this, it’s difficult to predict where you’re going to end up,” he explained. “I don’t care how good of a swimmer you are, trying to overcome the current dragging you downstream to get to one side of the river or another, it’s really difficult.”

No swimming signs were put up at the park following the incident.

“It’s a river, it’s wild, like a wild animal,” said Jet Goodman of Occum, a neighborhood in Norwich.

Goodman said he’s been coming to that part of the Shetucket River his entire life.

“A lot of little kids come, but when it’s like this, you don’t do that, you just don’t do that,” he said. “I’ve seen first hand how little kids can go down. Even my son saved a little girl once. You have to have flotation devices on anyone. Any kids, you have to be careful.”

Tardif said Tuesday’s incident wasn’t the first time it happened there.

“We’ve had water rescues here before,” he said. “Couple of years ago, we pulled a couple of kayakers out of the river. Fortunately everything was fine with them. This outcome wasn’t what we were hoping for, but in these types of situations you just never know.”

Tardif said a sibling of Aralye witnessed the incident and was able to help investigators find the mother and daughter downstream.

Police said there was no criminal aspect to the case.

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