An adult was recovered dead from Lake Macbride on Tuesday afternoon, and a child remained missing after an incident during a Borlaug Elementary School of the Wild trip. The search was suspended overnight and was set to resume Wednesday morning.
The Johnson County Sheriff's Office responded to Lake Macbride State Park around 12:10 p.m. and recovered the adult at 12:43 p.m. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene. Officials searched for the child through the evening, with boats, water rescue crews, a helicopter and multiple other agencies gathering in the Macbride Dam Road area near the spillway.
A University of Iowa Police officer said they were loading a patient and the helicopter was taking off, underscoring how quickly the response grew around the park. The Iowa City Community School District said the incident involved a Borlaug Elementary 5th grade School of the Wild trip, but the identities of the adult victim and the missing child have not been released.
The district said counselors and support personnel will be available to students and staff at Borlaug Elementary in the coming days, school will be held there on Wednesday and all School of the Wild trips have been canceled for the foreseeable future. It also canceled its regularly scheduled board meeting for Tuesday night, while saying its thoughts are with the family, friends and loved ones affected by the tragedy and that it will continue to provide support as needed.
For now, the unanswered question is the one that matters most: what happened in the water at Lake Macbride. Officials planned to pick up the search on Wednesday morning, and until they do, the school community is left waiting for answers that have not yet been released.
