MOMENCE, Ill. - A 5-year-old girl who was feared drowned with her grandfather on a boating trip startled searchers Friday when she emerged from the woods — naked, scratched and holding raspberries.
Crews had pulled her grandfather's body from the Kankakee River in eastern Illinois just hours earlier.
"People were like, 'Who's that little girl? That can't be her, can it?'" Kankakee Sheriff's Chief Deputy Ken McCabe said. "I went up to her (and) asked, 'How you doing? What's your name?'"
Crews had pulled her grandfather's body from the Kankakee River in eastern Illinois just hours earlier.
"People were like, 'Who's that little girl? That can't be her, can it?'" Kankakee Sheriff's Chief Deputy Ken McCabe said. "I went up to her (and) asked, 'How you doing? What's your name?'"
When authorities told Hannah Klamecki's family — already grieving the loss of her grandfather — that she was alive, the home erupted in screaming.
Hannah was taken to a hospital as a precaution. She slept with her parents and a teddy bear at her side before being released. Cradling the bear, she spoke freely of her ordeal Friday evening.
‘I was scared’"I was scared last night when everybody was gone," she said. "I went searching all over the world to look for the cottage (where her grandparents live)."
Hannah had scratches on her face and body and thick dirt under her nails. She had poison ivy rashes on her legs and couldn't walk because splinters and thorns cut her feet.
Hannah and her grandfather, David Klamecki, 62, were last seen Wednesday evening on the river near Momence, about 45 miles south of Chicago.
Authorities believe the river current swept the girl away from a small island where she and her grandfather had stopped to swim and to the shore of the mainland where she eventually was found.
She told searchers she was wearing floats on her arms and pulled herself from the water with a branch.
"That's a tough little girl, I tell you," McCabe said.
Hannah said she had taken off her bathing suit because it was muddy and itchy, friends of the family said.
Hannah was taken to a hospital as a precaution. She slept with her parents and a teddy bear at her side before being released. Cradling the bear, she spoke freely of her ordeal Friday evening.
‘I was scared’"I was scared last night when everybody was gone," she said. "I went searching all over the world to look for the cottage (where her grandparents live)."
Hannah had scratches on her face and body and thick dirt under her nails. She had poison ivy rashes on her legs and couldn't walk because splinters and thorns cut her feet.
Hannah and her grandfather, David Klamecki, 62, were last seen Wednesday evening on the river near Momence, about 45 miles south of Chicago.
Authorities believe the river current swept the girl away from a small island where she and her grandfather had stopped to swim and to the shore of the mainland where she eventually was found.
She told searchers she was wearing floats on her arms and pulled herself from the water with a branch.
"That's a tough little girl, I tell you," McCabe said.
Hannah said she had taken off her bathing suit because it was muddy and itchy, friends of the family said.
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