Mother of boy, 5, swept away in California floods begs officials to search for his body

By Jacky On Feb 27, 2023

A California mother is pleading with state officials to continue searching for her five-year-old son who was swept away by flooding last month, as she fears they have given up on the search.

Lindsy Doan and her husband Brian have been combing the banks of the Salina River with their own shovels and trying to use their pets as sniffer dogs in the search for their son Kyle.

When Kyle was first swept away during January’s violent floods and storms, the California National Guard deployed a legion of resources, including helicopters, drones, scuba teams, sonar devices and cadaver dogs, to find him, and the governor Gavin Newsome said ‘We won’. I’m not giving up until we find Kyle.

But the Doans fear the promise was empty, as state resources have been withdrawn from the search and the family has been left to orchestrate it on their own.

For the past three weekends, the family has used resources from a GoFundMe page to pay for bulldozers, lunches and fuel for the volunteers who have joined them in their search, but they fear that without the state’s aid being repaid, your search will be in vain. .

Lindsy Doan and Kyle, five years old. The boy was swept away by a flood last month.

Kyle Doan was lost during a flood on his way to kindergarten on January 9.

At least 21 people died in the devastating floods that swept through California in January. Since Kyle’s hasn’t recovered, he’s still officially missing and not part of that count, and Lindsy is hopeful that somehow he’s still alive.

On January 9, he was driving the boy to school when he tried to drive his SUV through what appeared to be a drivable path of flooded water across a two-lane rural highway.

Once it entered the water, the car began to fill with water and it skidded into the San Marcos creek. Lindsy was able to get out of the car and grab onto a tree, but as she was pulling Kyle to safety, they broke free and he was dragged away.

She tried to swim after him, but bystanders who saw her struggling in the water pulled her to safety before she was lost herself.

Since that day, all she’s found of Kyle is one of his shoes, Nike, with a yellow swoosh, and she’s been hoping to see the other one during her searches.

After Kyle first went missing, Governor Newsome said, “Hopefully, miracle of miracles, he’ll be okay,” and even President Joe Biden expressed support for the search.

But the Doans said those promises have faded in recent weeks and authorities have begun to drag their feet.

“We have a feeling that Kyle has now been presented as a cold case,” Brian said. Mercury News. They are no longer being forthcoming. It seems they don’t want to return our calls or texts so soon.

They have been excuses. ‘We are waiting for the weather to get warmer. The water needs to recede further. It’s too cold for the dogs to come out. I understand. You’re tired,” Lindsy wrote in a recent letter asking Newsome for help. But I ask again. If it was your son, when would you give up?

Lindsy and Brian Doan have been organizing the search for their son themselves.

Search team combing waterways for the missing Kyle Doan. His family said official efforts have diminished.

California Gov. Gavin Newsome and President Joe Biden said they would not rest until Kyle’s body was found. His family fears those were empty promises.

Meanwhile, the Doans have dedicated themselves to finding Kyle on their own.

With the help of his 18-year-old son and 16-year-old daughter, they scraped the surface of the riverbeds in the hope that Kyle could emerge from beneath a thin layer of silt.

“We try to do it as close to the ground as possible, in case we hit something because obviously I don’t want to hurt him or damage his body,” Lindsy told the Mercury News. “We’re basically scraping away the sand and dirt.”

They have purchased chainsaws to cut debris, wading boots, kayaks, and have done their best to organize the few volunteers who have arrived to assist them in the search.

Continued rains have also complicated the search, preventing volunteers from joining in and further flooding the rivers and making them unsafe to search.

The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services said last week that its “full weight” stayed behind the search and lifted the permitting process normally required to operate excavators on riverbanks, according to the Mercury News.

Despite assurances from officials, Lindsy said she was especially bummed out by her efforts when a San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department official told her the search might be futile as Kyle “very well could be in the bay.” of Monterey now.”

LINDSY DOAN’S REQUEST FOR HELP

Dear Sheriff Ian Parkinson, Governor Newsom, and State Representatives:

In five days, we’ll hit our 7-week mark. 7 weeks of sleepless nights, 7 weeks of anxiety triggers, 7 weeks without our rainbow baby, 7 weeks of being frozen in time. We’ve searched every weekend since Kyle went missing, we’ve done spot searches when we want to take a closer look at specific areas throughout the week, and we’ve spent time researching, planning searches, reaching out to potential community and non-profit organizations that might support our searches. We have complied with every rule that was given to us. We have been patient and understanding, but we cannot stop asking the same question. Where’s the sheriff’s team? In our minds, it’s becoming a cold case. Sheriff’s efforts were consistent up to the 4 week mark in terms of boots on the ground. Lots of agencies came in, checked out some areas of concern, and then disappeared. Since then, they have been excuses… We are waiting for the weather to get warmer. The water needs to recede further. It’s too cold for the dogs to come out. I understand. You are tired, but I ask you again. If it was your son, when would you give up?

I’m sure you’re sick of my letters by now, but my family is sick and tired of excuses. We are exhausted with your “ATV tours” to check conditions. We can’t understand helicopter flyovers when we’re pretty sure Kyle can’t be seen from the sky. They probably would have found it by now if that was the case. We’re tired of the sheriff’s team making it look like he’s doing something when, in reality, a lot of it appears to be superficial work to “look” like something is being done. Our messages are being ignored. It takes days for someone to return our text messages. There are fewer phone calls. Meetings seem to be the norm.

We request a map to eliminate our search areas. At first it looked like it would be released to the public, but then we received a denial of what we knew was a decision from above, which didn’t help us with our own searches. We as untrained civilians with limited funds are taking the guesswork right now with a phenomenal community that has stood up to support us but where is the San Luis Obispo Bureau of Emergency Services and Sheriff’s Departments ?

I’ll tell you where they aren’t. They are NOT looking for our baby. Instead, they are issuing public statements such as “During this incredibly difficult time, the full weight of state and local government remains behind the collective efforts to search for Kyle, and we are committed to supporting the family and community alike” to media outlets. media outlets like The Paso Robles Press, but they’re definitely not with us looking for Kyle.

We beg you. You are professionals with experience and resources. Do something. We are not capable of doing this on our own. We can’t wait months for you to do something. We vote them out as elected officials. I am not going to lie. I HATE politics, but one thing I do know is compassion. I became a teacher to help students, protect their rights, and support them in becoming positive and proactive citizens in our communities. Their job is to protect and support members of the community. Kyle is missing. Please step up and put action on his words. We need them on the ground, physically searching, not waiting for the waters to recede further when more of the land is already dry. At Governor Newsom’s press conference, he says, “We won’t stop looking until we find it.” Put that promise into action. Find him and take Kyle home.

Thanks for your time,

lindsy doan