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Bodies of missing brother and sister, 4 and 5, both found after Smithfield flooding
Smithfield, N.C. — Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell said the bodies of 5-year-old Alexa and her 4-year-old brother Abraham have both been found.
Search crews found Alexa’s body Wednesday afternoon in a creek south of the Neuse River. Abraham was found Thursday morning.
Volunteer Donna Mitchell said, when Alexa’s body was found after a long two-day search, volunteers formed a large prayer circle, “the only thing they could do.”
“Everyone is emotional,” Bizzell said. “The family is emotional, the deputies are emotional. I am emotional. Anytime we deal with a case involving children, anytime it’s someone’s child, someone’s loved one, someone’s sister, I’m emotional.“
The brother and sister were both swept away in floodwaters Monday night while riding in their mother’s car.
The children’s mother, who was driving the car, called 911 around 11:30 p.m. Monday when her car was swept into a creek off Galilee Road, which runs near the Neuse River, near West Smithfield Elementary School.
The mother and the car were both located Tuesday, but the children were never pulled to safety.
Family and friends said the woman is out of the hospital and is doing well physically.
Crews said that, during their initial rescue attempts, they found the boy, but Alexa was nowhere to be seen. First responders held onto the mother, but the boy slipped away when a rescue boat capsized. Crews found the woman’s white sedan a short distance downstream from Galilee Road. Nobody was inside.
