SIOUX FALLS, SD (KTIV) -
Police have confirmed the body of 16-year-old Madison Leigh Wallace has been found in the Big Sioux River.
Police say the teen drowned after being dragged away by a fast-moving, icy river in Sioux Falls as she tried to save her 6-year-old brother.
Sioux Falls Fire Chief Jim Sideras says emergency crews searching the Big Sioux River at Falls Park changed their focus from rescue to recovery early Friday.
Sideras says 6-year-old Garrett Martin Wallace, of Vermillion, was climbing on rocks Thursday evening when he disappeared into the icy water or massive amounts of gathering foam.
The boy's sister Madison Leigh Wallace, jumped in to save him but was swept away. Lyle Francis Eagletail, of Sioux Falls, also jumped in to help but he disappeared in the freezing water. His body has not been found.
The focus of the search has been near the Pedestrian Bridge by the Falls Overlook Cafe.
"That's where we're bordered in at and that's where we are confident that we'll find them," said Sideras.
But it hasn't been easy. The current is creating a runoff or a foam, in some areas 10 feet deep, which they have to water down to even see the ice.
"The problem is we had to break up a lot of this ice, and the ice is creating a lot of problems for us, so we had to bring in some special equipment to break up the ice," says Sideras.
That's when the divers are allowed to go in, where they will hopefully find the second body below.
The boy was pulled ashore. He is said to be safe and with family members.
