4 in Family Drown at Lake Isabella; 1 Is Hospitalized, Another Missing

Authorities are trying to determine how a family’s swim outing at Lake Isabella in Kern County turned tragic, with four drowned, one child in critical condition and another still missing.

Divers continued to search for a 9-year-old girl, the last member of the unidentified family still unaccounted for at day’s end Wednesday.

The six family members from the community of Wofford Heights near the lake had been splashing about and enjoying a sunny Tuesday afternoon, only to suddenly disappear beneath the waters of the placid lake at the south end of the Sierra Nevada.

Authorities said they will not release the names of the victims until they can notify relatives, who are presumed to be out of town for the Fourth of July holiday.

“We may not ever fully understand what happened,” said Kern County Sheriff’s Cmdr. Marty Williamson. “But nothing here leads us to believe this was anything more than just a sad event for this family and this community.”

According to Williamson, a 45-year-old man, his wife and four of their children were wading on a sandbar protruding from the lake’s floor just a short distance from the beach. Just before 3 p.m., a man on shore noticed the family frantically splashing around.

“They appeared to be having fun,” Williamson said. “But the man called out just in case and asked if they were OK or needed any help.”

The family didn’t reply, Williamson said, so the man began to walk away. Moments later, he noticed the family had disappeared from view. The witness told authorities that he jumped on his jet ski and found the mother and her 5-year-old son floating in the water, unresponsive. He rushed them both to shore, where others tried to resuscitate them.

The woman and her son were airlifted to nearby hospitals, where the mother was later pronounced dead. The boy was in critical condition and on life support at Valley Children’s Hospital in Madera, Williamson said.

Late Tuesday night, divers from the Kern County Sheriff’s Department Search and Rescue team found the bodies of the father and two girls, ages 8 and 12. The couple’s 9-year-old daughter had not been found late Wednesday.

Investigators say they have little to go on to determine what could have triggered such an awful event. But they do not suspect it was anything more than an accident.

Two brothers, ages 12 and 14, decided to go to a friend’s instead of the lake. They told investigators that their sisters could not swim.

Detectives speculate that one or more of the children got into trouble, perhaps accidentally stepping off the edge of the sandbar. In a desperate attempt to help, the others drowned, authorities speculated.

Williamson said there is no evidence that alcohol, drugs or family discord played a part in the deaths.

“I’ve been here 26 years and I can’t remember such a tragic event with so many deaths,” Williamson said.

“You have a family of eight; four are dead, one’s missing, one’s in critical condition, and the other two are probably going to end up in shelter care. What a sad tragedy.”