After Night Outside, Missing Girl Found by Fisherman

7-year-old wandered away from campsite, her cries for help led to her discovery Monday morning
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 13, 2024 5:57 AM CDT
Fisherman Finds Missing Girl Who Spent Night Outside
A photo of the Lake Merwin shoreline.   (Getty Images/vitpho)

A 7-year-old girl disappeared from a campsite in Washington state on Sunday evening and was missing more than 12 hours before a local fisherman heard her cries. The girl had been camping with her grandparents at the Lake Merwin Campers Hideaway north of Amboy in Clark County, KATU reports. She was seen directly across from her campsite before 8pm but couldn't be located afterward. Sheriff's deputies and local volunteers searched along with Clark County Search and Rescue, but the girl still hadn't been located by morning.

At that point, the Sheriff's Office Marine Patrol and Major Crimes Unit joined the search. But it was a local fisherman who would locate the missing girl along a steep section of shoreline. The fisherman heard the girl's cries for help around 8:45am and called 911. Marine Patrol then navigated the shoreline, got the girl into a boat, and carried her to a dock, where she was reunited with her family. It's unclear why the girl left the camping area. A rep for the sheriff's office said she may have slipped and fallen into some bushes, per KGW. She suffered no major injuries. (More missing child stories.)

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