Three-Day Search Ends As Two Women And Boy Found Alive In Michigan Woods

Bodycam video captures the moment search-and-rescue crews found two women and a 9-year-old boy alive after they went missing while tubing on the Muskegon River.

Michigan State Police and Department of Natural Resources conservation officers had been searching since Tuesday for Jazmin Hock, 28, Sarah Vida, 28, and Vida’s son, Kayden Kovalcik, 9.

The trio entered the river from the Maple Island Boat Launch in Newaygo County but failed to return, prompting a three-day search on the ground, in the water and from the air.

All three were found shortly after 4:30 p.m. Friday in the woods about a quarter-mile northeast of the Mill Iron Boat Launch in Muskegon County. Troopers had to push through waist-high weeds for more than a mile to reach them.

Conservation Officer Cameron Wright said he and his partner focused on the area because their knowledge and training indicated it was the most remote place the group could have reached.

Crews followed footprints and signs through the terrain, including tipped ferns, bent grass and broken sticks. The trio had moved through logs and water before entering the woods.

Bodycam footage shows officers removing their own shirts to help protect the three from dangerous brush that had cut their bodies during days of walking.

According to Theresa Hock, the trio had brought pool rafts, but the rafts broke and left them stranded. Jazmin Hock’s phone later lost battery power, leaving them unable to contact anyone.

The three stayed together throughout the three days. Hock and Vida had protein bars and water, which they were giving to Kovalcik.