Missing child’s jacket found in river, search continues

11:45 a.m. update

Bartholomew County Sheriff Matt Myers is planning to provide updated information about the search for 2-year-old Emma Sweet at 2 p.m. today. Check back here for an update or pick up a Monday Republic for ongoing coverage.

ORIGINAL STORY

Investigators refocused their search for missing 2-year-old Emma Sweet in the East Fork White River after the girl’s jacket was found caught on a tree branch in the water downstream at Southern Crossing, and her father admitted the toddler was with him when his truck went into the water.

The girl’s mother and uncle were at the search scene watching the search boats and divers Saturday morning as the search continued, focusing on an area surrounding where the truck was found, and also in nearby fields and on the riverbank.

About 25 firefighters were working the ground search on foot.

The search conditions were rough, cold temperatures, muddy field conditions and strong river currents, with divers from multiple agencies platooning in and out of the water in 30-minute shifts looking for the girl.

“We are going to find Emma,” Sheriff Matt Myers said at a news briefing at 1:30 p.m. near the search site, after the girl’s jacket was found by three local men searching on their own. “We are confident that we will find her and bring her home,” Myers said.

The jacket was found by three local men John Grider, Brandon McFarlane and Joshua Gale, all of Columbus, who said they went out to help search the riverbanks Saturday morning on their own.

Grider, who found the jacket, said the three started out at a nearby rock quarry and searched on foot along the riverbank, moving toward Southern Crossing, where they saw the coat in the river, floating in the water caught on a tree branch. It matched the description released by investigators as being cream-colored with butterflies on it.

“It hits you in the gut — it’s just a 2-year-old little girl,” Grider said of his emotional reaction to finding the jacket.

They were unable to grab the coat with another tree branch and then called 911. The Bartholomew County Sheriff’s airboat was dispatched and the coat was picked up by authorities and placed into an evidence bag.

After the jacket was found, Myers said family members came to the realization that finding the girl will be most likely a recovery rather than a rescue, and “they understand that,” Myers said. “They’ve been very cooperative and they know we just want to find her,” he said.

“We are going to find Emma. I am confident in the people we have and I’m confident we will find her and bring her home,” Myers said Saturday. “I just ask that everyone pray for the family and be respectful for the family. And pray that we get a break.”

Myers said the search is continuing today, and will continue until Emma is found.

Emma’s jacket was about a mile downstream from where the Ford F-150 driven by Emma’s father, Jeremy Sweet, was found submerged in about 3- to 4-feet of water at 6 a.m. Friday, with its windows open. Emma’s unstrapped car seat was found in the truck, but Myers said no other items indicating she had been in the truck were found.

The truck’s contents do not indicate that the father and daughter expected to be away from home long as there were no extra diapers or bags that would indicate the two would be gone for an extended period of time, Myers said.

Sweet, 39, of 1415 N. County Road 850E, was found shirtless inside the truck by duck hunters hunting along the East Fork White River at 6 a.m. Friday morning. Evidence indicates he drove straight off a 15- to 20-foot embankment far west of Beatty Lane into the river.

Investigators believe he was familiar with the area and drove “off-road” there frequently although they have no idea why he would have driven off the high embankment into the river.

He was transported to the Columbus Regional Hospital intensive care unit suffering from hypothermia, investigators said. Hospital officials did find a syringe on Sweet at the hospital and detectives are investigating whether he could have been under the influence of drugs when the truck went into the river.

Myers said detectives will seek Sweet’s medical records to determine what was in his system when he was taken to the hospital.

Sweet does have an extensive criminal record in Bartholomew County including convictions for possession and dealing methamphetamine, running a drug lab and revoking probation for drug use. He was currently out on bond on charges of possession of methamphetamine and unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon.

On Saturday, Jeremy Sweet gave detectives a third version of what happened prior to his truck being found in the river, Myers said. He told detectives that he was in the truck in the river and Emma was with him, Myers said.

“We can’t say that this is 100%, but it is looking more like she was in the water with him,” Myers said.

When Jeremy Sweet was asked where he last saw Emma, he told detectives he had fallen asleep and when he woke up, she was gone.

Detectives are attempting to piece together where the father and daughter were before the truck went into the water, but are not releasing information on that at this time.

After he was taken to the hospital, Sweet first told investigators he had dropped the girl off at “Casey’s” which investigators said they were unsure whether he meant the convenience store located on Gladstone Avenue in Columbus or the name of a friend.

In another version, he then told detectives that Emma was in the truck with him, and she had gotten wet so he took her jacket off, and then she was swept away in the current of the river, Myers said.

One of the truck’s windshield wipers was “pulled up” as through someone had been hanging on to it, Myers said. The river does have a substantial current where the truck was found, and divers have found that while the truck was in 3- to 4-feet of water, there are pockets nearby that are as deep as 11- to 12-feet. The river is also littered with fallen tree limbs and other obstructions both above and below the water.

Myers said the DNR has not started using sonar yet to search the river, but will wait until divers complete a search around where the truck was found.

Investigators said Sweet and his daughter were last seen Wednesday in the truck, with Emma wearing the jacket that was found Saturday in the river. They were reported missing by family members on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day.

The truck was pulled from the East Fork White River Saturday morning using a crane, Myers said. A cursory look inside the windows did not reveal any further information for detectives, who were obtaining a search warrant to conduct a more thorough examination of the vehicle Saturday.

Myers expressed his gratitude to the Columbus community and the numerous public safety agencies working at the scene to try to find the girl, and asked again that local residents refrain from searching on their own.

Indiana State Police, area volunteer and city firefighters, 31 Wrecker, the Department of Natural Resources and other departments were at the scene all day Saturday, which is being accessed by boat and by ATVs, due to muddy conditions.