Truck containing 17-month old "rolled in the river" | News

Illinois State Police say 17-month-old Charisma Jordan Michelle McGuire of Shawneetown, was inside a truck with her mother last night, when the truck rolled into the water.

The Ohio river bank in Old Shawneetown looks almost peaceful.

The remains of police tape caught in the weeds are the only reminder of the frightful events that took place Wednesday night and early Thursday morning.

"I was on scene in three minutes," said Gallatin Co. EMA Director Steve Galt. "Debris was still floating. The Shawneetown Police Chief was there, he was in the water. There was a couple of local people in the water."

They were looking for a pick up that had 17-month-old Charisma McGuire inside of it.

Officials say Charisma's mother, Kaylan Perry, told authorities she and a male friend were fishing in the area around 8:00 p.m. Wednesday night when the pick up truck with her daughter inside, rolled into the water.

Dive teams came in from Marrs and Perry townships in Indiana to help where crews located the pickup, 50 feet below the surface, but the river was working against them.

"The current, down to 30 feet, was not too bad, the way I understand it," Galt said. "But as soon as they got below 30 feet, they couldn't even stay in one place. It just kept pushing them away."

They went to Plan B.

"And used a grappling hook and kept running over it and grabbing it and pulling it a little closer to shore," said Galt.

Almost 12 hours later, at 6:25 in the morning, crews managed to get the vehicle on shore.

"For the first hour, we were still in the rescue mode, you know, hoping that some way or another they got out and we could find them, you know, and after about an hour we switched to recovery mode."

Illinois State Police is investigating the incident, but at this point they say they don't suspect foul play.

An autopsy is pending.