Items believed to belong to a missing seven-year-old child were found early Sunday morning in the icy waters of a Wisconsin river.
The discovery, confirmed by Two Rivers police, comes as officers continue to search for Jacob Baer.
The boy disappeared the day before around 4:30 p.m. from a park in Two Rivers, right next to the river.
The discovery in the West Twin River also came several hours later, after officers from the Coast Guard Ice Search and Rescue Team and the Wisconsin National Guard began assisting the search.
The latter provided an aerial survey with a helicopter at an altitude of 600 feet, flying over a specific section of the river near Veterans Park.
In a statement, police told citizens to keep an eye on this part of the waterway, but did not yet confirm whether the child had fallen in.
The belongings recovered from the river were also unspecified, but investigators were still expected to scour the area – now “an area of interest” – on Sunday for more clues.
Two Rivers is the same town where three-year-old Elijah Vue went missing in February before being found in September in a shallow grave three miles from the home of a man now charged in his death.
Items believed to belong to missing Jacob Baer, 7, were found early Sunday morning in the icy waters of a Wisconsin river, police confirmed in a statement
The discovery, confirmed by Two Rivers police, comes as officers continue to search for the child, who disappeared from this park right next to the river.
“Police found several items believed to belong to Jacob in the waters of the West Twin River last night,” Two Rivers police wrote in a statement on Facebook around 3:40 a.m.
“Early this morning, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) identified an area of interest in the water near these items during their search.
“A search of this area of interest and additional resources will be coordinated for operations later this morning.
‘We will keep you updated with further information as it becomes available. Thank you for your patience.’
About two hours earlier, police issued an update revealing how DNR officers arrived on the scene and joined the already deployed CEast Guard and the state National Guard.
Law enforcement and local responders were still searching the river at the time, the statement said.
Other statements indicated that the Coast Guard and National Guard arrived on the scene about an hour earlier, as temperatures approached 20 degrees Celsius.
An update issued just after midnight indicated that Wisconsin National was “conducting aerial survey using a helicopter” – a claim corroborated by data showing the helicopter’s flight path.
An update issued just after midnight indicated that Wisconsin National was “conducting aerial survey with a helicopter” — a claim corroborated by data showing the helicopter’s flight path
The search for the waterway, meanwhile, comes on the eve of the city’s cold season, which begins Monday. Around this time, parts of the river are known to have frozen over, and some ice was already visible when the boy went missing. In the photo the part of the river that is searched during the winter
Numerous volunteer fire departments, local fire departments and other law enforcement units also responded to the search, officers in Two Rivers said — with the boy still not found after nearly 24 hours.
The search for the waterway, meanwhile, comes on the eve of the city’s cold season, which begins Monday morning.
Around this time, parts of the river being searched are known to have frozen over, and some ice was already visible the night the boy went missing.
At this time, it remains unclear what items were recovered from the river and why police believe they belong to the missing boy.
The circumstances of his disappearance are also still somewhat shrouded, with police only saying that the boy – who is 6ft tall – was last seen wearing a black jacket with bits of green on the hood and a black and gray hooded sweatshirt.
He is described as having blue eyes and blonde, shaggy hair.