Texas authorities are expanding the search for an 8-year-old girl who went missing after a Christmas Eve morning crash, now considering other “specific areas of interest.”
Authorities in Sherman, Texas, said a pickup truck carrying six people from Durant, Oklahoma, was swept away by flood water on Highway 75 and crashed into a drainage ditch around 9:30 a.m.
Four days later, Sherman Police Chief Jason Jeffcoat said an 8-year-old girl, Clara Robinson, is still missing.
Beloved high school coach and father Will Robinson and his family are pictured before his tragic accident on Christmas Eve.
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“Search crews are continuing their efforts to search Post Oak Creek, near the site where initial rescue efforts took place,” Jeffcoat said. “Crews are also searching a 10-mile stretch of Post Oak Creek and Choctaw Creek.”
On Friday, the police department used K9 teams, dive teams, drone teams and helicopters to continue the search for Robinson.
The teams include personnel from the Sherman Fire Department, Sherman Police Department, Sherman Fire Rescue, Grayson County Sheriff's Office, Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Parks and Wildlife, the Texas Task Force Two, Texas Division of Emergency Management, Grayson County Office of Emergency Management. , Public Works and Brady Baskin, a local rescue diver.
Texas Task Force Two divided its team for the search, focusing on both the streams and other “specific areas of interest,” which were not specified.
Sherman officials said they will continue searching for Clara until she is found.
KXII shared a photo of the overturned car. (KXII)
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Will Robinson, father of four children, including Clara, died during the accident while trying to rescue a 5-year-old girl who was unresponsive when rescuers arrived.
The girl was later reunited with her family in what firefighters called “a great blessing in this tragedy.”
“the father [had] “The girl was in his arms at one point during the event, and then they weren't together, so it looked like he was definitely trying to save her,” said Bart Bowman of Sherman Fire Rescue.
Police credit Will Robinson with saving a 5-year-old girl who was also involved in the crash. (The Owen Foundation)
“One of our guys was able to find the girl under the water, pulled her out and handed her to one of our paramedics who was with him,” Bowman said. “That paramedic took her to the ambulance and performed CPR on the way to the hospital… With a near-drowning situation, it's absolutely extraordinary that they discharged her the next day without problems. That's a great blessing in this tragedy.”
Community members told Fox 4 that Will Robinson was a girls basketball coach at Durant High School in Oklahoma.
“He always brought CJ [his daughter, Clara] practice and she always played with us,” Kinlee Hill said.
Players noted that Robinson was a supportive coach and said he did everything he could to keep them in a positive mindset.
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“He was very patient with us girls,” player Emeri Morse said. “Honestly, I don't think I remember a single time when he raised his voice at us in anger… [He and C.J] It was absolutely two peas in a pod. “They were at practice, always together, and CJ would just run up to him or ask him for snacks.”
Fox Texas Digital and Fox 4's Dan Godwin and David Sentendrey contributed to this story.
