Ninth Body Found, Leaving One River Victim Missing

The body of a ninth teen-ager was recovered Sunday from the Guadalupe River and the search continued for a youth who disappeared while helping others caught by a flash flood during a church camp trip.

About 60 National Guardsmen and 100 law enforcement officials took part in the search, and ranchers and farmers along the river were asked to check the banks downriver, officials said.

The body of the ninth drowning victim was found at noon about two miles downriver from where a church bus and van stalled and were pulled into the surging river, said Trooper Dewayne Pruett of the Department of Public Safety. The campers were on their way to a rafting trip before heading back to the Dallas area after a week at the camp.

Victim Identified

The ninth victim was identified as Leslie Gossett, 14, he said.

The only camper still missing had helped fellow campers to safety, said Michael Smith, 18, of Scurry, one of the survivors of Friday’s accident.

“One of the boys, Mike Lane, he helped a bunch of people and John Bankston (Jr.), the one they haven’t found yet, he helped lots of people up into trees,” said Smith, whose two sisters were among those who drowned.

Searchers were digging through debris near the site of the accident.

“It’s amazing how high stacked that stuff is. We’re talking about 40 feet up in the trees,” said 2nd Lt. Rick Zapata of the Texas National Guard. “You’d be surprised how thick that stuff is. You can imagine why bodies can’t be found.”

Forty-three people were in the group from Seagoville Road Baptist Church, returning from Camp Pot o’ Gold. They got out of the vehicles and tried to form a human chain to get back to dry land, but a wall of water separated them.

‘God Opened His Arms’

And at the church in Balch Springs, a pastor told more than 300 mourners at a service Sunday that “God has opened His arms” to the teen-agers killed in the flash flood.

Assistant pastor Nathan Benton covered his face with his hands and sobbed as the congregation at the Baptist church held hands and prayed.

“Hearts are broken and crushed and our courage is almost gone, but God, help us . . . God, help us at this time,” said Benton, leading a service of prayer and song.

Survivors of the accident and their relatives and friends cried and hugged each other after the service, passing handwritten notices of funerals scheduled this week for four of the victims.