Two juvenile runaways from Piney Ridge were so determined to get away from police that they stole a staff member’s car after breaking out of the home for troubled youth and bailed out from a moving vehicle when police spotted them Wednesday night. After a night of hiding from police, they jumped into a flooded river Thursday afternoon when officers found them during a systematic search of wooded areas in the city.
That last escape effort nearly earned them coffins as the swollen Roubidoux Creek carried them more than 500 feet in just two to three minutes.
Waynesville Fire Chief Doug Yurecko, whose firefighters were assisting Waynesville police with a grid search of wooded areas of Waynesville Park, said the water temperature was about 50 degrees and there’s no way the two could have survived long in the water. One runaway was able to cling to a small tree branch; another caught a rescue rope thrown by firefighters from the bank. However, both were so weak after just a few minutes in the cold water that they couldn’t climb up an eight-foot riverbank; Yurecko and Assistant Police Chief Clarence Liberty had to climb down into the river to pull them out.
“If they hadn’t caught branches, we would have been doing body recovery,” Yurecko said.
Patrolman Mike Reed said he received the initial call Wednesday evening reporting the runaways, but quickly decided it wasn’t safe to rush into the woods near Piney Ridge to find the runaways.
“I wasn’t going into the woodline last  night; it’s just not safe,” Reed said. “It was cold and raining last night, it must have been uncomfortable for them, and we were hoping they would come out on their own.”
Police Chief Bob Carter said the escape began at 9:20 p.m. Wednesday when two juveniles, both from Omaha, Neb., fled the facility about 10 minutes apart. It’s not clear if the escape was coordinated or if the second runaway took advantage of an opportunity to follow the first, but they quickly linked up and were spotted again together at 11:30 p.m. in a Piney Ridge staff member’s car.
“All night we patrolled the area looking for them,” Carter said. “The search continued through the day until a Waynesville officer spotted them in the park.”
That sighting led to an intermittent chase lasting about 90 minutes during which officers periodically caught sight of the juveniles hiding or running. Reed. Assistant Chief Clarence Liberty, Lt. Gary Brankel and Officer Gwen Miles tracked the two at various times with the assistance of two state troopers and four Waynesville firefighters.
The juvenile’s last effort to escape the officers by swimming across a flooded river nearly became their final moments of life.
“It would have been a body recovery if the fire chief and our assistant chief hadn’t gone in and recovered them,” Carter said. “They may be suffering from hypothermia; that’s no wonder, given the temperature of that water.”
Carter said there’s little doubt that the two would have tried again to flee the area after darkness fell.
“We’re glad we got them apprehended and back to Piney Ridge,” Carter said. “If we hadn’t located them today, we probably would have had a car break-in and theft.”