The bodies of three young sisters in Texas who had been reported missing Friday evening were recovered early Saturday from a private pond in Cass County, Texas.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for Cass County began searching the property for the children at around 9:30 p.m.
The girls have been identified by officials as 9-year-old Zi’ariel Oliver, 8-year-old Amiyah Hughes and 5-year-old Temari Oliver. They were recovered at around 2 a.m. Saturday.
Zi’Ariel, A’Miyah and Temari went missing from their Atlanta, about 200 miles east of Fort Worth, home around 10pm Friday, prompting a multi-agency search for the girls.
A family friend had been watching the trio and their other siblings while their mother, Shommaonique Oliver, was at work. The babysitter called 911 to report their disappearance.
Officials received reports that the girls were found in a pond near Highway 77 around 2am Saturday.
Police centered their search around the pond after a pair of shoes and other items of clothing were found scattered near and in the water.
“We located items of clothing around a pond and in a pond,” Texas Game Warden Shawn Hervey told KSLA Saturday.
“We located items of clothing around a pond and in a pond. So, we centered the search around that small body of water, and with the use of divers we were able to recover three victims at approximately 2 a.m. this morning,” Texas Game Warden Shawn Hervey told the TV station.
Officials could not immediately confirm if all three children were related, if they frequently played at the pond – located on the neighboring property – or if the children knew how to swim.
“That is unknown, whether they were swimmers or not. None of them had life jackets on, so I don’t know how strong of swimmers they were or if were swimmers at all,” Lt. Game Warden Jason Jones told the TV station.
Video from the scene showed a bicycle abandoned on the property, seemingly close to the pond. It is unclear if the bike belonged to the girls and if they rode it to the property.
“We have no idea what the girls were doing there,” Cass County Sheriff Larry Rowe told the Texarkana Gazette.
The circumstances of the incident are under investigation.
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