Tragic loss

On Friday, July 22, authorities recovered the body of an eight-year-old girl who went missing while swimming in the Minnesota River. She was identified as Willow Bense of Janesville.

Bense was with her family swimming near Sibley Park in Mankato on Thursday, July 21. According to Blue Earth County Sheriff Captain Paul Barta, she and an eleven-year-old child wore life jackets but took them off when they were by one of the river’s sandbars.

"The children started to jump off the sandbar without their life jackets and into deeper water than they anticipated," he stated.

The two children were swept away by the current. Bense’s mother tried saving her, but she was also caught up in the water’s flow. A bystander helped rescue the other child but was unable to save Bense.

Responders were called at around 6 p.m. The Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Department, a Minnesota State Patrol helicopter, several drones, and 11 boats were part of the search effort Thursday evening and spent all night searching.

According to Barta, “Our search efforts on the river continued from the time of the call all the way through the night,” he said. “And we did have some staffing reduction due to safety issues that occur overnight. But we stepped up those search efforts again this morning. Right around 8:40 a.m., one of the search boats was able to locate Willow’s body probably about 5,000 feet downstream from where she was last seen yesterday.”

Members of the Cleveland Fire Department located the body. Barta stated that he was especially thankful for help from local and state agencies throughout the search.

“I say all the time when we have these unfortunate events that the resources and the cooperation among the agencies in the area is impressive,” Barta states. “And having this many agencies come out within a matter of [only about] an hour or two [with] that many different boats to help find this child is pretty incredible.”

The Ramsey County Medical Examiner's Office will perform a full autopsy to determine the official cause of death in the coming days. 

“It’s a sad day,” Barta stated. “We’d like to express our sympathies and condolences to the family again. I spent some time with them this morning. The loss of a child is heartbreaking. It’s always heartbreaking and it’s nothing short of a tragedy.”

Residents of Janesville are working together to rally around the family at this time. There is a Janesville State Bank account where donations are being accepted for the family. To make a donation, call 507-234-5108.